Scientists say it might be possible to use stem cells derived from tonsils to repair damaged livers, no surgery needed

Sep 25, 2014 07:54 GMT  ·  By

Tonsils are by no means everybody's favorite body part. In fact, most folks have absolutely no trouble parting with them, and feel no remorse throwing them away after doctors pull them from their throats.

Thanks to a team of researchers with the American Chemical Society, tonsils might soon experience a much needed boost in popularity. Thus, these scientists argue that it might be possible to use them to treat liver damage.

The trouble with liver damage

The liver is among the most important organs in the human body. This is because it performs all sorts of functions that keep people healthy and energetic. In a nutshell, it cleans the body of toxins, it synthesizes critical proteins and it facilitates digestion.

The problem is that, for the time being, the only accepted method to treat liver failure or liver disease is transplantation, be it complete or partial. Since there aren't all that many organs available, it often happens that liver trouble leads to death.

As if this weren't enough, specialists say that transplanting part of or an entire liver can come with serious complications. Thus, there is always a risk that the body will reject the transplant, and that such surgical interventions will prove deadly.

Getting around this liver trouble

In a paper in the American Chemical Society's journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, scientist Byeongmoon Jeong and fellow researchers explain that, as of recently, specialists have turned their attention to treating liver damage by transplanting lab-made liver cells in patients.

As shown by previous studies, such liver cells can be grown from stem cells originating from bone marrow. Interestingly enough, Byeongmoon Jeong and colleagues maintain that, according to their investigations, tonsils can too serve as a source of stem cells that can be used to make liver cells.

In their paper, the researchers detail how, after placing tonsil-derived stem cells in a special liquid and exposing them to several growth factors, they managed to compel them to turn into fully functional liver cells. The scientists hope that, one day, they will succeed in growing injectable liver tissue that can treat liver disease without the need to operate on the patient.

The perks of using tonsils to treat liver damage

As mentioned, injecting patients with liver tissue rather than cutting them open and placing new organs inside their bodies eliminates the risks associated with surgical interventions and ups a patient's recovery chances.

What's more, growing liver cells from stem cells derived from tonsils means that there is always plenty of material to work with. This is because tonsils are a body part that we don't really need. In fact, thousands of people have their tonsils removed on a yearly basis.

Admittedly, there is still plenty of work left to do before researchers can even begin to think about using tonsils to treat liver damage in actual human patients. Still, this research project is pretty interesting, and well worth keeping an eye on from now on.