CID seminar, "Human amniotic epithelial cells, a potential therapy for liver injury", 31 October

Presented by Majid Alhomrani, PhD student

Tuesday 31 October, 12-1pm, Seminar Room 1, TRF

Chronic liver diseases are characterised by progressive hepatocyte injury, which results in wound healing responses, inflammation and the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM).  The size of the population affected with chronic liver disease has been disproportionally increased, and the costs of this increase are enormous.  There are many causes of chronic liver disease including viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Currently, the only effective treatment for end-stage liver disease is orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Human Amniotic Epithelial Cells (hAECs) are isolated from the amnion of the placenta in sufficient numbers for clinical use, and bear many characteristics of traditional stem cells including pluripotent ability, low immunogenicity, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are complex membrane enclosed nanoparticles that carry a cargo of select proteins, RNAs, and lipids. I will explore the therapeutic efficacy of hAECs and hAEC-EV in reducing hepatic fibrosis. Mr Majid Alhomrani is a scientist at Monash University where he is currently in his third year of PhD.