Cell- and Gene-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Liver Disease: Recent Advances and Prospects

Dear Colleagues,

Liver disease is an escalating global health issue and one of the leading causes of premature mortality. To date, liver transplantation is the only curative treatment for individuals with inherited liver disorders and end-stage liver disease. However, donor organ shortage, allogeneic rejection, adverse effects associated with long-term immunosuppression, and the increasing number of patients requiring transplants are major limitations.

The development of alternative approaches to treat liver disease has remained an unmet clinical need. Cell- and gene-based therapeutic approaches have been suggested as potential alternatives to liver transplantation to treat a range of inherited and acquired liver diseases.

This Special Issue entitled Cell- and Gene-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Liver Disease; Recent Advances and Prospects, therefore aims to highlight the most recent advances in the field by bringing together contributions from experts on stem cell biology, bioprocessing, scale-up and manufacturing of cell-based therapies, tissue engineering, and gene therapy.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Methodologies for the generation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived parenchymal and non-parenchymal derivatives;
• Design, manufacture, and testing of bioartificial liver (BAL) devices;
• Gene therapy approaches to treat inherited monogenic liver disease;
• Additive manufacturing process to manufacture functional tissue;
• Tissue engineering approaches and scaffold design to treat liver disease;
• Role of parenchymal and non-parenchymal derivatives in the normal function of the liver and pathogenicity, including fibrosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD);
• Advanced experimental tools to predict drug-induced liver injury (DILI) of lead compounds more accurately and to assess safety of gene therapy viral vectors.

Dr. Hassan Rashidi
Guest Editor

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