Key points from article :
Lab-grown livers out of human skin cells, successfully transplanted in rats.
In US, about 17,000 people are currently waiting for a liver transplant.
In 2017, patients receiving a liver transplant were billed an estimated $812,500.
Reprogrammed human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
They guided iPSCs to become various types of liver cells.
Then seeded those human liver cells into liver scaffolds, rat livers with own cells removed.
It took researchers under a month to grow the mini livers in bioreactors.
The liver maturation takes up to two years in a natural environment.
Transplanted the mini lab-grown livers into 5 immunosuppressed mice.
It worked for 4 days like normal ones, secreting bile acids, urea.
Scientists predicted, in ~10 years they can biofabricate universally accepted liver grafts.
Researchers from University of Pittsburgh and other respectable institutions, published in Cell Reports.
