induced pluripotent stem cells

CIRM-funded development of stem cell therapy for Canavan disease shows promising results

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Yanhong Shi, Ph.D., City of Hope

Canavan disease is a fatal neurological disorder, the most prevalent form of which begins in infancy. It is caused by mutation of the ASPA gene, resulting in the deterioration of white matter (myelin) in the brain and preventing the proper transmission of nerve signals.  The mutated ASPA gene causes the buildup of an amino acid called NAA and is typically found in neurons in the brain.  As a result of the NAA buildup, Canavan disease causes symptoms such as impaired motor function, mental retardation, and early death. Currently, there is no cure or standard of treatment for this condition.

Fortunately, CIRM-funded research conducted at City of Hope by Yanhong Shi, Ph.D. is developing a stem cell-based treatment for Canavan disease. The research is part of CIRM’s Translational Stage Research Program, which promotes the activities necessary for advancement to clinical study of a potential therapy.

The results from the study are promising, with the therapy improving motor function, reducing degeneration of various brain regions, and expanding lifespan in a Canavan disease mouse model.

For this study, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can turn into virtually any type of cells, were created from skin cells of Canavan disease patients. The newly created iPSCs were then used to create neural progenitor cells (NPCs), which have the ability to turn into various types of neural cells in the central nervous system. A functional version of the ASPA gene was then introduced into the NPCs. These newly created NPCs were then transplanted inside the brains of Canavan disease mice.

The study also used iPSCs engineered to have a functional version of the ASPA gene. The genetically modified iPSCs were then used to create oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), which have the ability to turn into myelin. The OPCs were also transplanted inside the brains of mice.

The rationale for evaluating both NPCs and OPCs was that NPCs typically stayed at the site of injection while OPCs tend to migrate, which might have been important in terms of the effectiveness of the therapy.  However, the results of the study show that both NPCs and OPCs were effective, with both being able to reduce levels of NAA, presumably because NAA can move to where the ASPA enzyme is although NPCs do not migrate.  This resulted in improved motor function, recovery of myelin, and reduction of brain degeneration, in both the NPC and OPC-transplanted Canavan disease mice.

“Thanks to funding from CIRM and the hard work of my team here at City of Hope and collaborators at Center for Biomedicine and Genetics, Department of Molecular Imaging and Therapy, and Diabetes and Metabolism Institute at City of Hope, as well as collaborators from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, University of Rochester Medical Center, and Aarhus University, we were able to carry out this study which has demonstrated promising results,” said Dr. Shi.  “I hope that these findings can one day bring about an effective therapy for Canavan disease patients, who currently have no treatment options.”

Dr. Shi and her team will build on this research by starting IND-enabling studies using their NPC therapy soon.  This is the final step in securing approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to test the therapy in patients.  

The full study was published in Advanced Science.

CIRM Bridges program prepared student for research of a rare disease

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Ian Blong, Ph.D., CIRM San Francisco State University Bridges to Stem Cell Research Alumnus

Recently, The New York Times released a powerful article that tells the stories of four different families navigating the challenges of having a family member with a rare disease. One of these stories focused on Matt Wilsey, a tech entrepreneur and investor in California’s Silicon Valley, and his daughter Grace, who was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder named NGLY1 deficiency. This genetic disorder causes developmental delay, intellectual disability, seizures, and other movement issues.

Matt and Kristen Wilsey with their 10-year-old daughter Grace, who has a rare genetic disorder, at the Grace Science headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
Image Credit: James Tensuan for The New York Times

Matt decided to put his entrepreneurial and networking skills to good use in order to form Grace Science Foundation, an organization whose focus is to pioneer approaches to scientific discovery in order to develop a cure for NGLY1 deficiency. One researcher that Matt brought on board was Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., a chemist from Stanford University. A graduate student in her laboratory, Ian Blong, Ph.D., decided to study NGLY1 and was able to complete his dissertation while working on this topic at Stanford University.

Ian’s journey towards obtaining his Ph.D. started after being accepted into the San Francisco State University (SFSU) CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research Master’s Program. CIRM funding for this program allowed students like Ian to take courses at SFSU while also working in labs at world renown institutions in the Bay Area such as UCSF, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D.
Image Credit: L.A. Cicero

In exploring the various options afforded to him by the CIRM, Ian found Dr. Bertozzi’s lab at UC Berkeley, where he focused on early stage discovery research. His master’s thesis project focused on how to generate rare neuronal and and neural crest cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Both of these stem cell types can generate virtually any kind of cell, but iPSCs are unique in that they can be generated from the adult cells (such as skin) of a patient.

Ian decided to continue his studies in Dr. Bertozzi’s lab by continuing his research in a Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley. He credits the SFSU CIRM Bridges Program with giving him the opportunity to work under a prestigious PI and in her lab at UC Berkeley, which allowed him to continue his studies there.

“The CIRM Bridges Program gave me the confidence and resources to pursue my dreams. Being able to have the capability of going to Berkeley and do research with top tier scientists along with the support from CIRM. Without CIRM, I wouldn’t have had the courage to go to those universities to get my foot in the door.”

Eventually, Dr. Bertozzi move her operations to Stanford University and Ian continued his Ph.D. studies there. Stanford provided him the opportunity to focus more on the translational stage, which is an area of research aimed at developing a therapeutic candidate. Going into his Ph.D. work, Ian was able to build upon his previous “discovery stage” knowledge of generating neuronal and neural crest cells from iPSCS and hESCs.

An area of his work at Stanford focused on generating neural crest cells from iPSCs of those with NGLY1 deficiency. The goal was to identify a phenotype, which is an observable characteristic such as physical form. Identifying this would help better understand potential differentiation pathways that underlie NGLY1 deficiency, which could lead to the development a potential treatment for the condition.

Flash forward to present day and Ian is still using the knowledge he learned from his time in the SFSU CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. He is currently a scientist at the healthcare company Roche, where his focus is on manufacturing future diagnostics and therapeutics on a much larger scale, a complex and extremely critical process necessary in widely distributing potential stem cell-based treatments.

Ian’s experience and opportunities provided to him is just one of the many examples of how the various CIRM Bridges Programs across California have given students the resources needed to become the next generation of scientists.

Scientists at UC Davis discover a way to help stem cells repair heart tissue

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Researchers Phung Thai (left) and Padmini Sirish were part of a research team seeking stem cell solutions to heart failure care.  Image Credit: UC Davis

Repairing the permanent damage associated with a heart attack or long-term heart disease has been a challenge that scientists have been trying to tackle for a long time. Heart failure affects approximately 5.7 million people in the U.S and it is estimated that this number will increase to 9 million by the year 2030. At a biological level, the biggest challenge to overcome is cell death and thickening of muscles around the heart.

Recently, using stem cells to treat heart disease has shown some promise. However, little progress has been made in this area because the inflammation associated with heart disease decreases the chances of stem cell survival. Fortunately, Dr. Nipavan Chiamvimonvat and her team of researchers at UC Davis have found an enzyme inhibitor that may help stem cells repair damaged heart tissue.

Dr. Nipavan Chiamvimonvat
 Image Credit: UC Davis

The enzyme the team is looking at, known as soluble epoxide hydrolase (or sEH for short), is a known factor in joint and lung disease and is associated with inflammation. The inhibitor Dr. Chiamvimonvat and her team are studying closely is called TPPU and it is meant to block sEH.

In their study, the UC Davis team used human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), a kind of stem cell made by reprogramming skin or blood cells that then has the ability to form all cell types. In this case, the hiPSCs were turned into heart muscle cells.

To evaluate the effectiveness of TPPU, the team then induced heart attacks in six groups of mice. A group of these mice was treated with a combination of TPPU and the newly created heart muscle cells.  The team found that the mice treated with this combination approach had the best outcomes in terms of increased engraftment and survival of transplanted stem cells. Additionally, this group also had less heart muscle thickening and improved heart function. 

The next step for Dr. Chiamvimonvat and her team is to conduct more animal testing in order to obtain the data necessary to test this therapy in clinical trials.

In a press release, Dr. Chiamvimonvat discusses the importance of research and its impact on patients.

““It is my dream as a clinician and scientist to take the problems I see in the clinic to the lab for solutions that benefit our patients.”

The full study was published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

 

Therapy developed with CIRM award used in new clinical trial for COVID-19

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Dr. Joshua Rhein, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine
Image Credit: University of Minnesota

While doctors are still trying to better understand how to treat some of the most severe cases of COVID-19, researchers are looking at their current scientific “toolkit” to see if any potential therapies for other diseases could also help treat patients with COVID-19. One example of this is a treatment developed by Fate Therapeutics called FT516, which received support in its early stages from a Late Stage Preclinical grant awarded by CIRM.

FT516 uses induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are a kind of stem cell made from reprogrammed skin or blood cells. These newly made stem cells have the potential to become any kind of cell in the body. For FT516, iPSCs are transformed into natural killer (NK) cells, which are a type of white blood cell that are a vital part of the immune system and play a role in fighting off viral infections.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, FT516 was used in a clinical trial to treat patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and B-cell lymphoma, which are two different kinds of blood cancer.

Due to the natural ability of NK cells to fight off viruses, it is believed that FT516 may also help play a role in diminishing viral replication of the novel coronavirus in COVID-19 patients. In fact, Fate Therapeutics, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, has treated their first COVID-19 patient with FT516 in a new clinical trial.

In a news release, Dr. Joshua Rhein, Physician at the University of Minnesota running the trial site, elaborates on how FT516 could help COVID-19 patients.

“The medical research community has been mobilized to meet the unique challenges that COVID-19 presents. There are limited treatment options for COVID-19, and we have been inundated daily with reports of varying quality describing the potential of numerous therapies. We know that NK cells play an important role in responding to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, and that these cells often become depleted in infected patients. Our intent is to replenish NK cells in order to restore a functional immune system and directly target the virus.”

In its own response to the coronavirus pandemic, CIRM has funded three clinical trials as part of $5 million in emergency funding for COVID-19 related projects. They include the following: a convalescent plasma study conducted by Dr. John Zaia at City of Hope, a treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome (a serious and lethal consequence of COVID-19) conducted by Dr. Michael Matthay at UCSF, and a study that also uses NK cells to treat COVID-19 patients conducted by Dr. Xiaokui Zhang at Celularity Inc.  Visit our dashboard page to learn more about these clinical projects.

Researchers 3D print a heart pump using stem cells

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This image used on the cover of the American Heart Association’s Circulation Research journal is a 3D rendering of the printed heart pump developed at the University of Minnesota. The discovery could have major implications for studying heart disease. 
Credit: Kupfer, Lin, et al., University of Minnesota

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. About 647,000 Americans die from heart disease each year, which is roughly one out of every four deaths total in the US.

In order to better study heart disease, Dr. Brenda Ogle and her team at the University of Minnesota have successfully 3D printed a functioning centimeter-scale human heart pump.

Previously, researchers have attempted to 3D print heart muscle cells within a 3D structure called an extracellular matrix. The heart muscle cells were made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of stem cell that can turn into virtually any kind of cell. Unfortunately, the cell density needed for the heart cells to function was never reached.

In this study. Dr. Ogle and her team made some slight changes to the process that had failed previously. First, they optimized a specialized ink made from extracellular matrix proteins. They then mixed the newly created ink with human iPSCs and used this new mixture to 3D print the chambered structure. The iPSCS were expanded to high cell densities in the structure first, and then were differentiated into heart muscle cells. The heart muscle model is about 1.5 centimeters long and was specifically designed to fit into the abdominal cavity of a mouse for future studies.

A video of this process can be seen below:

The team of researchers found that for the first time ever they could achieve the goal of high cell density to allow the cells to beat together, just like a human heart. Furthermore, this study shows how heart muscle cells can organize and work together. The iPSCs differentiating into heart muscle cells right next to each other is comparable to how stem cells grow in the body and then undergo specification to heart muscle cells.

A video of the heart pump contractions can be seen below as well:

In a press release from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Ogle elaborates on the implications of this study.

“We now have a model to track and trace what is happening at the cell and molecular level in pump structure that begins to approximate the human heart. We can introduce disease and damage into the model and then study the effects of medicines and other therapeutics.”

The full results of this study were published in Circulation Research.

CIRM Board Approves Two Discovery Research Projects for COVID-19

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Dr. Steven Dowdy (left), Dr. Evan Snyder (center), and Dr. John Zaia (right)

This past Friday the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) approved two additional discovery research projects as part of the $5 million in emergency funding for COVID-19 related projects.  This brings the number of COVID-19 projects CIRM is supporting to 15, including three clinical trials.

The Board awarded $249,999 to Dr. Evan Snyder at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.  The study will use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of stem cell that can be created by reprogramming skin or blood cells, to create lung organoids.  These lung organoids will then be infected with the novel coronavirus in order to test two drug candidates for treatment of the virus. The iPSCs and the subsequent lung organoids created will reflect diversity by including male and female patients from the Caucasian, African-American, and Latinx population.

This award is part of CIRM’s Quest Awards Program (DISC2), which promotes promising new technologies that could be translated to enable broad use and improve patient care.

The Board also awarded $150,000 to Dr. Steven Dowdy at UC San Diego for development of another potential treatment for COVID-19.  

Dr. Dowdy and his team are working on developing a new, and hopefully more effective, way of delivering a genetic medicine, called siRNA, into the lungs of infected patients. In the past trying to do this proved problematic as the siRNA did not reach the appropriate compartment in the cell to become effective. However, the team will use an iPSC lung model to help them identify ways past this barrier so the siRNA can attack the virus and stop it replicating and spreading throughout the lungs.

This award is part of CIRM’s Inception Awards Program (DISC1), which supports transformational ideas that require the generation of additional data.

A supplemental award of $250,000 was approved for Dr. John Zaia at City of Hope to continue support of a CIRM funded clinical study that is using convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients.  The team recently launched a website to enroll patients, recruit plasma donors, and help physicians enroll their patients.

“The use of induced pluripotent stem cells has expanded the potential for personalized medicine,” says Dr. Maria T. Millan, the President & CEO of CIRM. “Using patient derived cells has enabled researchers to develop lung organoids and lung specific cells to test numerous COVID-19 therapies.”

Stem cells used to look at how COVID-19 attacks heart muscle

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Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (heart cells) shown in green and blue, are infected by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (red). Image provided by Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute.

There is still a lot that we don’t understand about SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), the new coronavirus that has caused a worldwide pandemic. Some patients that contract the virus experiences heart problems, but the reasons are not entirely clear. Pre-existing heart conditions or inflammation and oxygen deprivation that result from COVID-19 have all been implicated but more evidence needs to be collected.

To evaluate this, a joint study between Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute and the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center used human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a kind of stem cell that can become any kind of cell in the body and is usually made from skin cells. The iPSCS were converted into heart cells and infected with COVID-19 in order to study the effects of the virus.

The results of this study showed that the iPSC-derived heart cells are susceptible to COVID-19 infection and that the virus can quickly divide inside the heart cells. Furthermore, the infected heart cells showed changes in their ability to beat 72 hours after infection.

In a press release, Dr. Clive Svendsen, senior and co-corresponding author of the study and director of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, elaborated on the results.

“This viral pandemic is predominately defined by respiratory symptoms, but there are also cardiac complications, including arrhythmias, heart failure and viral myocarditis. While this could be the result of massive inflammation in response to the virus, our data suggest that the heart could also be directly affected by the virus in COVID-19.”

Although this study does not perfectly replicate the conditions inside the human body, the iPSC heart cells may also help identify and screen new potential drugs that could alleviate viral infection of the heart.

The research team has already found that treatment with an antibody called ACE2 was able to decrease viral replication on the iPSC heart cells.

In the same press release Dr. Arun Sharma, first author and another co-corresponding author of the study and a research fellow at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, had this to say about the ACE2 antibody.

“By blocking the ACE2 protein with an antibody, the virus is not as easily able to bind to the ACE2 protein, and thus cannot easily enter the cell. This not only helps us understand the mechanisms of how this virus functions, but also suggests therapeutic approaches that could be used as a potential treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

The study’s third co-corresponding author was Dr. Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami, an associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.

The full results of this study were published in Cell Reports Medicine.

CIRM Board Approves Third Clinical Trial for COVID-19

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Dr. Xiaokui Zhang (left), Dr. Albert Wong (center), and Dr. Preet Chaudhary (right)

Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) awarded $750,000 to Dr. Xiaokui Zhang at Celularity to conduct a clinical trial for the treatment of COVID-19.  This brings the total number of CIRM clinical trials to 64, including three targeting the coronavirus.

This trial will use blood stem cells obtained from the placenta to generate natural killer (NK) cells, a type of white blood cell that is a vital part of the immune system, and administer them to patients with COVID-19.  NK cells play an important role in defense against cancer and in fighting off viral infections.  The goal is to administer these cells to locate the active sites of COVID-19 infection and destroy the virus-infected cells.  These NK cells have been used in two other clinical trials for acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma.

The Board also approved two additional awards for Discovery Stage Research (DISC2), which promote promising new technologies that could be translated to enable broad use and improve patient care.

One award for $100,000 was given to Dr. Albert Wong at Stanford.  Dr. Wong has recently received an award from CIRM to develop a vaccine that produces a CD8+ T cell response to boost the body’s immune response to remove COVID-19 infected cells.  The current award will enable him to expand on the initial approach to increase its potential to impact the Latinx and African American populations, two ethnicities that are disproportionately impacted by the virus in California.

The other award was for $249,996 and was given to Dr. Preet Chaudhary at the University of Southern California.  Dr. Chaudary will use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to generate natural killer cells (NK). These NK cells will express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), a synthetic receptor that will directly target the immune cells to kill cells infected with the virus.  The ultimate goal is for these iPSC-NK-CAR cells to be used as a treatment for COVID-19. 

“These programs address the role of the body’s immune T and NK cells in combatting viral infection and CIRM is fortunate enough to be able to assist these investigators in applying experience and knowledge gained elsewhere to find targeted treatments for COVID-19” says Dr. Maria T. Millan, the President & CEO of CIRM. “This type of critical thinking reflects the resourcefulness of researchers when evaluating their scientific tool kits.  Projects like these align with CIRM’s track record of supporting research at different stages and for different diseases than the original target.”

The CIRM Board voted to endorse a new initiative to refund the agency and provide it with $5.5 billion to continue its work. The ‘California Stem Cell Research, Treatments and Cures Initiative of 2020 will appear on the November ballot. 

The Board also approved a resolution honoring Ken Burtis, PhD., for his long service on the Board. Dr. Burtis was honored for his almost four decades of service at UC Davis as a student, professor and administrator and for his 11 years on the CIRM Board as both a member and alternate member. In the resolution marking his retirement the Board praised him, saying “his experience, commitment, knowledge, and leadership, contributed greatly to the momentum of discovery and the future therapies which will be the ultimate outcome of the dedicated work of the researchers receiving CIRM funding.”

Jonathan Thomas, the Chair of the Board, said “Ken has been invaluable and I’ve always found him to have tremendous insight. He has served as a great source of advice and inspiration to me and to the ICOC in dealing with all the topics we have had to face.” 

Lauren Miller Rogen thanked Dr. Burtis, saying “I sat next to you at my first meeting and was feeling so extraordinarily overwhelmed and you went out of your way to explain all these big science words to me. You were always a source of help and support, and you explained things to me in a way that I always appreciated with my normal brain.”

Dr. Burtis said it has been a real honor and privilege to be on the Board. “I’ve been amazed and astounded at the passion and dedication that the Board and CIRM staff have brought to this work. Every meeting over the years there has been a moment of drama and then resolution and this Board always manages to reach agreement and serve the people of California.”

Stem cells used to promote quick and precise bone healing

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A close-up view of the intricate microarchitecture of the pluripotent stem-cell-derived extracellular matrix. Image Credit: Carl Gregory/Texas A&M

Although some broken bones can be mended with the help of a cast, others require more complex treatments. Bone grafts, which can come from the patient’s own body or a donor, are used to transplant bone tissue to the injury site. However, these procedures can have setbacks such as increased recovery time and chronic pain. Each year approximately 600,000 people in the United States alone experience complications from bone healing.

Researchers at Texas A&M University found a way to use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of stem cell that can turn into any cell type and can be derived from adults cells (e.g. skin cells), to create superior bone grafts. The team of researchers said these grafts could potentially be used to promote swift and precise bone healing, enabling patients to optimally benefit from surgical intervention.

The Texas A&M team used iPSCS to make mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which make the extracellular matrix needed for bone grafts. MSCs can be obtained from bone marrow, but they have a relatively shorter life span and are not as biologically active when compared to MSCs generated from iPSCs.

To test the effectiveness of their iPSC generated bone grafts, they implanted the extracellular matrix at a site of bone defects. After a few weeks, they found that their iPSC generated matrix was five to sixfold more effective than the best FDA-approved graft stimulator.

In a news release from Texas A&M, Dr. Roland Kaunas discusses the potential benefits of using iPSC generated bone grafts.

“Our material is very promising because the pluripotent stem cells can ideally generate many batches of the extracellular matrix from just a single donor which will greatly simplify the large-scale manufacturing of these bone grafts.”

Additionally, the Texas A&M team said this approach has the potential to be incorporated into numerous engineered implants, such as 3D-printed implants or metal screws, so that these parts integrate better with the surrounding bone.

The full results of this study were published in Nature Communications.

A brief video on bone grafts from Texas A&M is available below.

“Mini” human liver made of stem cells successfully transplanted in rats

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Miniature liver made from human skin cells turned stem cells turned specialized liver cells Photo Credit: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

According to the American Liver Foundation website, almost 14,000 patients are on the waiting list for a liver transplant. But what if there was a way to generate a liver using your own cells so that you didn’t have to wait? Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have gotten one step closer towards that goal.

Using human skin cells from volunteers, Dr. Alejandro Soto-Gutierrez and his team of researchers were able to create “mini” livers which were successfully transplanted into rats. In this proof of concept experiment, the “mini” livers survived inside the rats for four days. Additionally, they secreted bile acids and urea and produced proteins similar to a normal liver. Normally, liver maturation takes up to two years in a natural environment, but Dr. Soto-Gutierrez and his team were able to do this in under a month.

The researchers were able to do this by taking human skin cells and reprogramming them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of stem cell that has the ability to turn into virtually any other kind of cell. These newly formed iPSCs were then made into liver cells which were then seeded into a rat liver with all of its own cells removed. These newly formed “mini” livers were then transplanted into the rats.

In a press release, Dr. Soto-Gutierrez discusses what it was like observing the newly created “mini” livers.

“Seeing that little human organ there inside the animal – brown, looking like a liver – that was pretty cool. This thing that looks like a liver and functions like a liver came from somebody’s skin cells.”

Although these results were promising, there are still challenges that need to be addressed in future studies such as long-term survival and safety issues.

Even so, Dr. Soto-Gutierrez says his research could one-day benefit patients who are running out of options.

“The long-term goal is to create organs that can replace organ donation, but in the near future, I see this as a bridge to transplant. For instance, in acute liver failure, you might just need hepatic boost for a while instead of a whole new liver”.

The full results to this study were published in Cell Reports.