Clinical and laboratory outcomes of stem cell transplantation in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis : single-arm pilot trial

Abstract EN

Introduction The high prevalence of hepatitis C virus‑associated liver disease has led to increasing number of Egyptian patients having end‑stage liver disease and requiring liver transplantation.

Because of several limitations of liver transplantation, new alternative treatment modalities are required for patients with liver cirrhosis.

Many study results encourage the use of autologous bone marrow‑derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for liver diseases.

Aim The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of using bone marrow‑derived MSC on clinical manifestations, liver function, Child–Pugh score, and Model for End‑stage Liver Disease score in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis.

Patients and methods This is a pilot single‑arm prospective trial that included 13 patients with hepatitis C virus‑associated liver cirrhosis who received transdifferentiated MSC via ultrasound‑guided percutaneous portal vein infusion plus regular conventional treatment for patients with cirrhosis.

Patients were followed up weekly for the first month and monthly for 6 months.

Results There was significant improvement in some clinical manifestations, including frequency of attacks of hematemesis, ascites, and lower limb edema after MSC infusion compared with baseline data.

Moreover significant increase was detected in mean serum albumin level as it began with 24.62 ± 3.93 and became 27.81 ± 4.14 (P = 0.009) after 6 months of follow‑up.

Moreover, the results showed improvement in Child–Pugh, but no changes were detected in Model for End‑stage Liver Disease score after MSC infusion compared with baseline.

Conclusion Our data show that transdifferentiated MSC injection may improve some clinical manifestations and some indices of liver function in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis with successful tolerability.