病毒疗法,衰竭肝脏 z-bo 2020-12-17 316

　　A study recently published in the journal Cell Stem Cells shows that a modified virus can repair diseased liver by turning bad cells into good ones. This therapy may one day provide a way out for thousands of patients with liver failure.

　　 In the United States, more than 35,000 people die from liver disease every year. This new viral therapy targets liver fibrosis, which gradually scars the liver and causes organ failure.

　　 Liver failure occurs when healthy cells called liver cells are damaged by alcohol and disease. The pores left by these cells are filled with myofibroblasts, and myofibroblasts 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 from the University of California, Los Angeles and his colleagues used liver gene switches called transcription factors to find a way to turn myofibroblasts into liver cells.

　　The problem is how to get these transcription factors into the scarred liver. This is where the virus invades. The researchers packaged a cold-related virus called adenovirus group (AAV) with their transcription factors and used it to infect myofibroblasts in mice with liver-damaged mice. Once inside the myofibroblast, the virus downloads the transcription factors that turn the cell into a liver cell.

　　 This therapy increased the number of healthy liver cells in mice and reduced the collagen content of the liver by an average of 1/3. "We believe that combining the production of more stem cells with the reduction of collagen is the most promising way to treat liver fibrosis." Willenbring said.

　　Vanessa Hebditch, head of communications and policy at the British Liver Trust, said that the latest research has an exciting impact on the future. "The vector used in the research has been used in the treatment of other human diseases, so this is a promising method."