Sky news report on liver regeneration

[Iro1]

news.sky.com/story/leprosy-...

I know this is speculative and probably a long time off but a genuinely hopeful piece of research.

[kensimmons]

I was speaking to a Gatro doc a few months back right after we all "awoke" from our Covid lockdown and (night my doctor, just someone I know from a social function) and he said that he is convinced 99 percent that in the next 10 years we would be seeing amazing breakthroughs in medicine - including liver disease. He attributed it to all the research done on Covid - a lot will end up being useful in other areas. Of course he is just one man, but let's hope he is right!

[Iro1 in reply to kensimmons]

I suppose the issue is the lead time between research and treatment. An alternative to transplant would be thr holy grail, in the context of Covid no need to take immuno suppresive drugs.

[kensimmons in reply to Iro1]

Of course, let's just hope for the best and if we ever meet a politician, lobby for maximum health care research financing.

[Readlots]

I saw this article today and thought the same thing. Fingers crossed they get the funding they will need to follow it through to a treatment for us and future generations

[Iro1 in reply to Readlots]

It seems to me the key is regeneration, in the article it appears that exposure to the leprosy bacteria makes the liver grow crucially with the proper architecture. I wonder if there are other substances, bacteria that produce such an effect?Imagine a world where transplants are used in hyper critical liver failure circumstances, I only hope it happens in my lifetime.

I had my first venosection session a few weeks ago.