Liver Tissue Engineering as an Emerging Alternative for Liver Disease Treatment

Abstract

Chronic liver diseases affect thousands of lives throughout the world every year. The shortage of liver donors for transplantation has been the main driving force to employ alternative methods such as liver tissue engineering (LTE) in fabricating a three-dimensional transplantable liver tissue or enhancing cell delivery techniques alleviating the need for liver donors. LTE consists of three components, cells, ECM (extracellular matrix), and signaling molecules, which we discuss the first and second. The three most common cell sources used in LTE are human and animal primary hepatocytes, and stem cells for different applications. Two major categories of ECM are used to mimic the microenvironment of these cells, named scaffolds and microbeads. Scaffolds have been made by numerous methods with a wide range of synthetic and natural biomaterials. Cell encapsulation has also been utilized by many polymeric biomaterials. To investigate their functions, many properties have been discussed in the literature, such as biochemical, geometrical, and mechanical properties, in both of these categories. Overall, LTE shows excellent potential in assisting hepatic disorders. However, some challenges exist that prevent the practical use of it clinically, making LTE an ongoing research subject in the scientific society.

Impact statement

This article is a comprehensive review of almost every step of liver tissue engineering (LTE) that a researcher should consider in this field. Thus, it provides knowledge and trusted references for further investigation. The main facets of LTE, cells and extracellular matrix, are reviewed and classified with precision to direct researchers to a state of the art strategy for achieving meaningful results and improvements, and, therefore, inclination toward clinical use with the aim of efficient treatment for liver diseases.