Sci Adv: Heavyweight! Chinese scientists' successful conversion of the spleen into a liver-like organ could solve the dilemma facing liver organ transplantation.

JUNE 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent study published in the international journal Science Advances, scientists from Nanjing University and other institutions have developed a new method or can induce the spleen of mice to exhibit liver-like behavior, which may be expected to be a new alternative to organ transplantation, in which researchers describe the new technology and how it works in mouse bodiesPhoto credit: DrLei Dong/Nanjing University liver disease is common in many people around the world, and many patients who need a liver transplant often have died before waiting for the transplanted organ, which is why medical scientists are desperate to find alternatives to treat liver disease, or whether other strategies can be used to replace the patient's liver, and the researchers say the spleen may be an ideal targetThe spleen is an organ of the body's abdomen that plays a key role in the production and removal of blood cells, and is considered an important part of the body's immune system, but its function is very limited, which is why people can survive because of impaired spleen function, or survive after the spleen is removed, and in the article, researchers developed a new method that allows them to perform most of their liver function by altering the spleen in the mouse bodyIn the study, the researchers first surgically moved each mouse's spleen to a position under its skin to make it easier to operate, then injected the spleen with a biologic to harden and make it a platform to support new cell growth, and once the structure was in place in mice, the researchers transplanted liver cells into the newly created structure, with different mice receiving liver cells from different types of donor bodies, some of which were liver cells in mice that received liver cellsThe researchers then let the cells grow in mice for eight weeks, and after testing, the researchers said that all of the spleen had been converted into liver-like organs, and that the researchers had removed 90 percent of liver tissue from each mouse to observe their late performance, and found that all mice carrying spleen-like organs had been stocked for 48 hours, while the liver was reduced and the spleen had not been converted, and that more research would be needed before the technology could be used in human clinical trials(BioValley Bioon.com) Original origins: Lintao Wang, Chunming Wang, Zhenzhen Wang, et alTransforming the spleen into a liver-like organ in vivo, Science Advances (2020)DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz9974