Author: Merentsova Anastasia
Translator: Issabayeva Madina
Copy editor: Kigbaeva Kamila
For the first time in the world, Japanese doctors not only turned stem cells into hepatocytes (liver cells), but also successfully transplanted them into an infant. Medical Xpress reports that a child born in October 2019 suffered from a dysfunctional urea cycle in which the liver is unable to destroy toxic ammonia, which contributes to its accumulation. But the six-day-old was too young to have a major surgery like a liver transplant. A transplant is usually carried out at the earliest when the child reaches 3-5 months and when its weight is at least 6 kilograms.
Since it was impossible to leave the child without medical assistance, Japanese doctors from the National Center for Health and Development of the child decided to try the so-called «intermediate treatment», until the child reaches the prescribed age and weight for liver transplant. This treatment involved the transfer of 190 million liver cells from embryonic stem cells. As a result of the medical manipulation carried out, the condition of the child normalized the concentration of ammonia in the body decreased, and already in March of this year, i.e. six months after birth, a liver transplant was carried out, the donor of which was the patient’s father.
«The success of this test confirms the safety of the applied method in the world’s first clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells in patients with liver diseases», says the staff of the institute in which the therapy was conducted. The introduction of stem cell therapy into medical practice will save the lives of many children with dysfunctional liver.
Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/
