-Researchers may have found a way to improve success rates of liver transplantation with a workaround for a well-known complication that can cause the new organ to fail, a study in mice suggests.
The liver’s blood supply is cut off when it is removed from the donor. When the blood supply is restored during transplantation into the recipient, the influx sparks inflammation that damages the liver, causing so-called ischemia-reperfusion injury.
The resulting cascade of cellular and molecular events can lead to graft dysfunction and failure.
In previous experiments, the researchers discovered that a protein called CEACAM1 helps protect the liver from injury during the transplantation process.
In their latest study, published in JCI Insights, they discovered that CEACAM1 and another protein called Human Antigen R (HuR) together act as protective switches that prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury.
They also found a way to boost these switches in mice, increasing their protective effect and reducing the damaging stress on the liver.
The researchers also found the same protective relationship between HuR and CEACAM1 in discarded human livers that had been deemed unsuitable for transplantation.
“One of the most intractable problems in the field of organ transplantation remains the nationwide shortage of donor livers, which has led to high patient mortality while waiting for a liver transplant,” study leader Kenneth Dery from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said in a statement.
“This could ultimately help address the national transplant shortage and lower mortality rates.”
