British scientists have created liver cells in a lab for the first time by reprogramming stem cells taken from human skin, paving the way for potential new treatments for liver diseases that kill thousands each year, dpa reported. Cambridge University scientists who reported their results in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on Wednesday, said they also found a way of avoiding the kind of intense political and ethical rows over embryonic stem cells which are currently hampering work in the United States. "This technology bypasses the need for using human embryos," said Tamir Rashid of Cambridge's laboratory for regenerative medicine, who led the study. "The cells we created were just as good as if we had used embryonic stem cells." Embryonic stem cells are seen as the most powerful and malleable type of cells but are controversial because they are harvested from human embryos when they are just a few days old. Liver disease is the fifth largest cause of death in developed nations after cardiovascular, cancer, stroke, and respiratory diseases. In the United States, it accounts for around 25,000 deaths a year, and experts say that in Britain liver disease death rates among young and middle-aged people are increasing at a rate of 8 to 10 percent a year. Rashid said that despite 40 years of trying, scientists have so far never been able to grow liver cells in a lab, making research into liver disorders extremely difficult. Given a shortage of donor liver organs, alternatives are urgently needed, he added. This study increases the likelihood that alternatives can be found, either by developing new drugs or by using cell-based therapy -- when cells from patients with genetic diseases are "cured" and transplanted back. Liver diseases can be either inherited, or caused by alcohol abuse or infections such as hepatitis. -- SPA
