The
University of Minnesota Bioartificial Liver
The
liver is a major factory in our bodies.
It produces many proteins, including albumin and clotting
factors. It also balances the chemical environment, including glucose
and amino acid concentrations, and it metabolizes or detoxifies
many drugs and waste products of the body's metabolism. Because
of the liver's structural complexity and functional diversity, our
quest for finding an artificial replacement or semi-synthetic surrogate
has been elusive. Liver failure is the 7th leading cause
of death in the United States (American Liver Foundation, 1996).
Over thirty thousand people die of liver failure every year
in the United States alone. Mortality rates are particularly high
for those diagnosed with acute fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) because
hepatic regeneration is neither rapid nor sufficient enough to sustain
the patient. Those
who qualify for a liver transplant often die while awaiting an allograft
because of the scarcity of donor organs.
Thus there is a critical need for improved temporary liver
support for potential transplant recipients, as well as for patients
with reversible, acute hepatitis who do not qualify for liver transplantation.
Currently,
the only treatment for acute liver failure is liver transplantation.
However, the supply of transplantable organs is far short of the
demand. A bioartificial liver (BAL) device employing isolated liver
cells, or hepatocytes, can potentially provide temporary support
for patients in liver failure. A multidisciplinary team of researchers
here at the University of Minnesota has developed a BAL device to
treat patients in acute liver failure. It is designed to be a bridge
therapy, to support or stabilize patients until a transplantable
organ becomes available or until their own liver can regenerate.
Recently,
our BAL technology was licensed to Algenix, Inc. With financial
support from Algenix, the University of Minnesota team is preparing
to begin phase I clinical trials later this year.
Genomic Biochemical Engineering
| | Cell Culture Engineering
| Metabolic
Pathway Engineering
| Liver Cell Self Assembly
| Analysis
of Bioreaction Network | Stem
Cell Culture Engineering | Image
Processing in Fluorescence Microscopy | Bioartificial
Liver | MAIN
RESEARCH PAGE
