Endothelial Cell Therapy for Damaged Livers

Cell therapies have shown some ability to reduce fibrosis, the generation of scar-like structures in place of functional tissue that appears with aging and a variety of forms of organ failure. Fibrosis is one of the consequences of growing numbers of senescent cells and the chronic inflammation they cause. The normal intricate coordination of cell populations in regeneration and tissue maintenance runs awry. Cell therapies may help by pushing the balance of cell signaling back towards a more youthful, normal pattern, and reducing inflammation, at least for a time. This doesn't appear to be as be as potentially beneficial as clearance of senescent cells, but the development of cell therapies is a much larger and more mature field. The research here is one example of a more sophisticated effort to adjust the cellular environment to induce regeneration by transplanting cells of a specific type to induce the desired signaling changes. Scientists have been exploring the potential of stem cell and other cell therapies to regenerate fibrosis-damaged organs including cirrhotic livers. One problem with this strategy is that inflammatory and other disease processes within a damaged organ tend to create an inhospitable environment - or "niche" - for transplanted cells and even for resident stem cells. Prior work has shown, however, that vessel-lining endothelial cells can produce special organ-specific growth factors, known as angiocrine factors, that restore a healthier niche ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs