Autologous Bone Marrow Stem Cells in Cirrhosis Patients

Overview

Liver cirrhosis (LC) is the end stage of chronic liver disease. The liver transplantation is one of the only effective therapies available to such patients. However, lack of donors, surgical complications, rejection, and high cost are it's serious problems. The potential for stem cells in bone marrow (BM) to differentiate into hepatocytes cells was recently confirmed. Moreover, BMC transplantation has been performed to treat hematological diseases, and several clinical studies have applied BMC injection to induce regeneration of myocardium and blood vessels. In this study we will evaluate safety and feasibility of autologous bone marrow mono nuclear (BM-MNC) and enriched CD133+ hematopoietic stem cell transplantation through the portal vein in patients with decompensate cirrhosis.

BM (200 ml) will be harvested from the iliac crest according to standard procedures under general anesthesia and is collected in plastic bags containing anti coagulant. After precipitation of red blood cells, Low density mononuclear cells will be collected by centrifugation in Ficoll-Paque density gradient. For CD133+ cells separation the CliniMACS instrument will be used. Cells are injected via portal vein under sonography monitoring. After cell therapy, patients are followed up every week for 4 weeks, and laboratory data are analyzed for 24 weeks.

Conditions