Bioengineering considerations in liver regenerative medicine

BACKGROUND: Liver disease contributes significantly to global disease burden and is associated with rising incidence and escalating costs. It is likely that innovative approaches, arising from the emerging field of liver regenerative medicine, will counter these trends. MAIN BODY: Liver regenerative medicine is a rapidly expanding field based on a rich history of basic investigations into the nature of liver structure, physiology, development, regeneration, and function. With a bioengineering perspective, we discuss all major subfields within liver regenerative medicine, focusing on the history, seminal publications, recent progress within these fields, and commercialization efforts. The areas reviewed include fundamental aspects of liver transplantation, liver regeneration, primary hepatocyte cell culture, bioartificial liver, hepatocyte transplantation and liver cell therapies, mouse liver repopulation, adult liver stem cell/progenitor cells, pluripotent stem cells, hepatic microdevices, and decellularized liver grafts. CONCLUSION: These studies highlight the creative directions of liver regenerative medicine, the collective efforts of scientists, engineers, and doctors, and the bright outlook for a wide range of approaches and applications which will impact patients with liver disease.