Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Well done, Japanese!' that was published in Newsband

Well done, Japanese!

In the past, producing fully functional human organs happened only in the realm of science fiction. In the near future the things will change. Some Japanese scientists has come up with a “functional” miniature human liver that produces blood proteins and breaks down drugs when transplanted into a mouse. Thus they gave birth to a rudimentary functional human organ. The same technique can be used to grow other organs like kidneys and pancreas.

The liver exhibits excellent regenerative capacity; it can heal when less than 70 per cent of the organ is damaged. While the liver’s failure due to moderate alcohol consumption can be prevented by providing it sufficient time every year to heal, liver failure due to hepatitis B infection can be easily avoided by getting vaccinated.

This is a path breaking study - more exciting than any science fiction! Great achievement by the Japanese scientists!

Don’t be surprised if in future it will turn into a simple clinical procedure, providing a rescue for many diseases as well as cases like disabilities.

It will help the siblings who are born without some organs and even help to cure the disease caused by consumption of alcohol. Hope that it reaches the clinic stores in less than a decade and help the needy.

The technique is unlikely to produce whole replacement livers, but could be used to grow mini-livers that supplement a failing organ. Such transplants would not even need to be located near the existing liver.

This is indeed a game-changing study because these researchers have taken a giant step by providing proof-of-concept demonstration of a “functional” miniature human liver that produced blood proteins and the drugs broke down when transplanted into a mouse.

The technique is very novel and based on the Nobel winning discovery. What remains to be seen, in the years to come, is how the scientists can improve its efficiency. The government should promote research on this front because this technique of producing functional human organs will go a long way in curbing the "organ black market".