Researchers used stem cells from skin and blood to create a "functional" human liver, according to reports.
The new medical advancement means scientists are closer to future successes. The study was published in the journal Nature.
"The promise of an off-the-shelf liver seems much closer than one could hope even a year ago," said Dusko Illic, a stem cell expert at King's College London told Reuters.
Though the study may appear to be promising, IIlic said "there is much unknown and it will take years before it could be applied in regenerative medicine." Researchers have been studying stem cells or more than a decade, attempting to use their ability to transform to treat many medical conditions.
"Countries across the world have a critical shortage of donor organs for treating patients with liver, kidney, heart and other organ failure," Reuters reported. "Scientists are keenly aware of the need to find other ways of obtaining organs for transplant."
Stems cells have two main forms: embryonic cells that are taken from embryos and reprogrammed "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPS cells) harvested from skin or blood.
The research team, based at the Okohama City University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan, grew stem cells into three-dimensional structures called "liver bud" using iPS cells.
"To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating the generation of a functional human organ from pluripotent stem cells," the researchers wrote in the journal Nature.
"When they transplanted them into mice, the researchers found the human liver buds matured, the human blood vessels connected to the mouse host's blood vessels and they began to perform many of the functions of mature human liver cells," according to Reuters.
Scientists suggest that the developed "buds" might be used to test new drugs to see how the human liver would react to them.
To read more about the new stem cell research findings, click here.
