An Update on Lygenesis: Functional Liver Organoids in the Lymph Nodes of Pigs

Lygenesis is the company founded to conduct the clinical development of research into the use of lymph nodes to support the growth and function of organoids. Lymph nodes are found in the lymphatic system, places where immune cells can coordinate with one another in order to produce an immune response. Mammals have more lymph nodes than they need, and so it is possible to insert small pieces of organ tissue into a few lymph nodes, transforming them into miniature organs, without harming the immune system. This can in principle work well for factory organs like the liver and thymus, which carry out functions that do not have a strong dependency on structure or location in the body. The primary thrust of the work at Lygenesis is to provide a way to support failing liver function, but the company intends to do the same for the thymus. The latter is perhaps more interesting a line of work, given that loss of thymus tissue occurs early in life, and the thymus is responsible for the maturation of T cells of the adaptive immune system. Thymic atrophy is an important contributing factor in the age-related loss of immune function, as the supply of replacement immune cells diminishes over time. Today's news is focused on the liver, however. Here, researchers show that their approach works in a large animal model, specifically pigs. Pigs Grow New Liver in Lymph Nodes, Study Shows The cells of the liver normally replenish themselves, but need a healthy, nurturing en...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs