Generation of HPB Tissue - Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Growing Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary tissue in the lab for research in liver disease
IRAS ID
328327
Contact name
Fotios Sampaziotis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
10 years, 0 months, 29 days
Research summary
Liver disease constitutes the 3rd biggest cause of premature deaths in the UK, with a 400% increase in deaths over the last 50 years. These statistics reflect the relative lack of effective therapies for liver disease, with liver transplantation being the only cure for end-stage liver failure. However, the clinical demand for donor livers far outweighs the available supply. Therefore, discovering new drugs to prevent liver disease from progressing to liver failure, or developing alternative therapies for liver transplantation, such as cellular therapies or transplanting lab-grown tissue, could address these unmet clinical needs. Importantly, a fundamental requirement in achieving these goals is growing patient-derived cells in the lab from the liver and the different tissues that connect the liver to the gastrointestinal tract. These are collectively known as the Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) tree, which includes the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and the neighbouring pancreas that joins to the small bowel. All of these organs and structures within the HPB tree play a crucial role in the development of liver disease. Our lab has established protocols to grow HPB cells, and from these cells and generate “mini-organs-in-a-dish”, referred to herein as HPB organoids. HPB organoids replicate native HPB tissue more accurately and are better platforms to study disease than conventional two-dimensional cell culture techniques which are sub-optimal and limit the progress of biomedical research. We propose to derive HPB organoids from patients with and without liver disease and use these to address the unmet clinical needs described above. This ethics application seeks approval for opportunistic sampling so that we may use an inconsequential portion of clinical samples obtained for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes (e.g. resected specimens) to grow HPB organoids and perform HPB-related research.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
23/NS/0106
Date of REC Opinion
12 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion