The Effectiveness and Safety for Mesenchymal Stem Cell for Alcoholic Liver Cirrhosis

Background \& Aim: Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have capacity to differentiate into hepatocytes and anti-fibrotic effect in the experimental model. No study was done in humans with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. The researchers investigated the anti-fibrotic effect of BM-MSCs in alcoholic cirrhosis as Phase II clinical study. Methods: Eleven alcoholic cirrhosis patients (M:F = 10:1) with Child-Pugh's class B and maintenance of alcohol abstinence at least 2 months were enrolled. At baseline, all patients received liver biopsy, hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement and serologic tests. BM-MSCs were isolated from each patient's BM and amplified for one month and injected two times at 4, 8week through Rt. hepatic artery. 5x106cells/mL of BM-MSCs were injected in each session. Follow up biopsy, HVPG and relative expression of tissue transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-β1), α smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen-1 by real time RT PCR were measured after 12weeks from 2nd BM-MSC injection. The primary outcome was improvement in patients' histology Aim : The researchers aimed to evaluate safety and effectiveness of new therapy with bone marrow derived autologous mesenchymal stem cell for hepatic failure caused by alcoholic liver cirrhosis.