病毒疗法,衰竭肝脏 z-bo 2020-09-22 340

　　Research published in the journal Cell Stem Cells shows that a modified virus can repair diseased livers by turning bad cells into good cells. This treatment may one day provide thousands of patients with liver failure a way.

　　In the United States, more than 35,000 people die of liver disease every year. The new viral therapy targets liver fibrosis, which gradually damages the liver and causes organ failure. Liver failure occurs when alcohol or disease damages healthy liver cells, called hepatocytes. The holes left by these cells are filled with fibroblasts, which produce scar tissue from collagen. Ultimately, the liver cannot produce new liver cells fast enough to offset the damage caused by scar tissue and organ failure. Holger Willenbring of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues discovered a way to convert myofibroblasts into hepatocytes using gene switches called transcription factors in the liver.

　　The question is how to get these transcription factors into the scarred liver. This is where the virus invades. The researchers used transcription factors to package a cold-related virus, the adenovirus group (AAV), and used it to infect mouse myofibroblasts with liver damage. Once inside the myofibroblasts, the virus downloads transcription factors, thereby turning the cells into hepatocytes. This treatment increased the number of healthy liver cells in the mice and reduced the collagen content of the liver by an average of one-third. Willembling said: "We believe that combining the increase of stem cells with the decrease of collagen is the most promising treatment for liver fibrosis."

　　Britishiver Trust's Director of Communications and Policy Vanessa Hevditch said that the latest research will have a stimulating effect on the future. "This is a very promising approach because the vector used in this study is also used to treat other human diseases."