英国纽卡素大学（Newcastle
University）研究人员从初生婴儿的脐带取得干细胞，成功培育出全球第一个部分人体肝脏，写下医学新页，未来将再发展培育完整人体肝脏，供移植使用。


进行这项破天荒人体肝脏培育计划的两位研究人员福拉兹（Dr Nico Forraz）及麦古金（Colin McGuckin），从出生仅数分钟的新生儿脐带血中取得干细胞，在实验室成功培育出只有约一便士硬币大小的迷你肝脏，短期内这项人工培育人体肝脏的技术，将用来进行药品测试，减少动物实验。


福拉兹与麦古金两人共同成立ConoStem公司，积极推动干细胞研究工作，五年内他们将把培养的人工肝脏用来修复因受伤、患病及酗酒导致的受损肝脏，预估十五年后可以培植完整的肝脏，可望进行肝脏移植手术。


在纽卡素大学教授再生医学的麦古金指出，「我们从脐带血成功培养迷你肝脏，之后将这些迷你肝脏送给制药商，让他们测试新药，如此一来可以减少民众因接受新药测试，不幸死亡的悲剧。」


麦古金说，全球每年平均有一亿名婴儿诞生，他们的干细胞组织都不相同，如果能取得他们的干细胞培植各式不同的肝脏，将能为那些没有储存脐带血的肝脏病患带来福音。


福拉兹说，「我们最大的梦想是，未来在全世界各主要城市都能有一个肝脏银行，病患只要输入他们的血型等相关资料，我们就能找到可以配对的肝脏。」


肝脏专家表示，由于肝脏有专属的供血来源及纤维性骨架，科学家距离培育完整的人体肝脏还有一段长路要走。

LONDON (AFP) - Scientists at an English university have grown a miniature
artificial human liver in a major medical breakthrough.

It is hoped mini-livers could be used to test drugs, reducing the need for
animal experiments, help repair damaged livers and eventually produce entire
organs for lifesaving transplants, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The organ, which is about the size of a thumbnail, was grown using stemcells
in blood taken from umbilical cords.

Professor Colin McGuckin, who specializes in regenerative medicine, made the
breakthrough with Doctor Nico Forraz at Newcastle University in northeast
England.

While other scientists have created liver cells, the Newcastle team are the
first to create sizeable sections of tissue from stem cells from the umbilical
cord, the Daily Mail said.

The pair extracted blood from the umbilical cords of newborn babies. They
were then placed in a "bioreactor" developed by        NASA, which mimics the
effects of weightlessness. This allows the cells to multiply more quickly.

Chemicals and hormones are then added to encourage the stem cells to turn
into liver tissue.

"We take the stem cells from the umbilical cord blood and make small
mini-livers," said McGuckin. "We then give them to pharmaceutical companies and
they can use them to test new drugs on.

"When a drug company is developing a new drug it first tests it on human
cells and then tests it on animals before beginning trials on humans," he said.

And he added: "Moving from testing on animals to humans is a massive leap and
there is still a risk. But by using the mini-livers we have developed there is
no need to test on animals or humans."

They could potentially be used like dialysis machines, buying time for a
patient's liver to repair itself or for doctors to find a replacement liver.

Professor Ian Gilmore, a liver specialist at the Royal Liverpool Hospital in
northwest England, told the BBC that the Newcastle team had made a "big ethical
leap forward" in not requiring embryos to produce tissue.

"It is exciting because there is a real dearth of treatments available for
people with liver disease," he said.

It is estimated that up to 10 percent of the British population have liver
problems, mostly linked to lifestyle factors such as obesity and alcoholism, the
BBC said.