# A New Molecular Mechanism to Bioengineering a Liver

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2021 · $411,533

## Abstract

Hepatocyte transplantation has many potential applications. Extensive animal
experiments have shown that hepatocytes transplanted in the liver or at ectopic sites
survive, function, and actively participate in the regenerative process. However our
understanding of hepatocyte engraftment and their remarkable proliferative and
regenerative potential is limited, even if primary hepatocyte transplantation is at the
doorstep of applications in the treatment of inherited and acquired human diseases. We
previously made a serendipitous observation that normal hepatocytes transplanted in the
peritoneal cavity of an animal with lethal liver disease migrate into the lymphatic system
and engineer ectopic liver-like organoids that rescue an animal model from a fatal
metabolic disorder. How hepatocytes enter the lymphatics and what molecular
mechanism is responsible for the generation of ectopic mass is not known. We
hypothesized that hepatocytes must borrow some of the molecular mechanism
lymphocytes use to migrate into the lymphatics. Our interest will be to study ectopic cell
transplantation and our central objective of our application is to translate a highly
interesting observation, the generation of ectopic liver, to a potential clinical application
for patients with liver diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10136583
- **Project number:** 5R01DK114282-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** ERIC LAGASSE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $411,533
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10136583

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10136583, A New Molecular Mechanism to Bioengineering a Liver (5R01DK114282-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10136583. Licensed CC0.

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