Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Induce Liver Transplant Tolerance

Liver transplantation is the only lifesaving intervention for patients with end-stage liver diseases. Despite the ability of current immunosuppressive agents to reduce the incidence of acute rejection, the rate of acute rejection reaches to 20-50% after liver transplantation. Furthermore, the long-term toxicity associated with current regimens for liver transplant recipients now is increasingly being perceived as an unmet clinical need. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) appeared to be effective in regulating the invoked immune response in setting such as tissue injury, transplantation, and autoimmunity, and have been used successfully to treat graft versus host disease and show immune modulation function both in vitro and in vivo and may help in repairing damaged tissue(s). Here, we evaluate umbilical cord derived MSC (UC-MSC) as an alternative immunosuppressive agents for liver transplanted patients, and examine if UC-MSC could improve the recovery of liver function.