Miniature Human Livers Grown In Lab

Zothecula writes "In the quest to grow replacement human organs in the lab, livers are no doubt at the top of many a barfly's wish list. With its wide range of functions that support almost every organ in the body and no way to compensate for the absence of liver function, the ability to grow a replacement is also the focus of many research efforts. Now, for the first time, researchers have been able to successfully engineer miniature livers in the lab using human liver cells."

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[zrbyte]

Here's a TED talk from Alan Russell on the methods and details of this technology.

Re:Still need anti-rejection drugs?

[malakai]

No, failure of the whole liver all at once would be exceptionally rare. Cirrhosis for example takes years to die from. Parts of the liver end up becoming 'scar' tissue, and cease to perform liver functions. At some point in time, if the disease isn't stopped and you fall below some threshold of healthy liver cells, you'll end up dead.

Re:Still need anti-rejection drugs?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Failure of the whole liver all at once" is actually quite common. It's called fulminant hepatic failure and is an occasional (~1-20%) outcome of the hepatitis viruses. It's a relatively common indication for liver transplantation.