It will now be possible to treat alcoholism with the help of a special virus that is able to repair a damaged liver.
Chronic liver diseases, as well as cirrhosis, in which this organ gets irreversible damage and stops functioning, are the result of alcoholism and cause death.
Scientists at the University College of San Francisco have developed a completely new method of treating liver disease by converting cells damaged by toxins.
According to scientists, the converted cells not only functionally integrate into the liver tissue, but also divide and expand in it, which leads to the creation of new tissue.
Scientists, using reprogramming, were able to convert cells of scar tissue of the liver (myofibroblasts) in mice with cirrhosis into healthy functional liver cells, hepatocytes. And for the first time it was possible to do this right in the body of rodents.
Researchers hope this method will give people doomed to die from severe liver damage to get a second chance at life.