Joohyun Kim, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine, has received pilot funding from the Yale Liver Center to develop a new form of life-support for patients with severe liver failure. The project is supported in part by the Yale Liver Center award NIH P30 DK034989 Clinical and Translational Core.
Kim’s project, “Genetically Engineered Xeno-Liver Perfusion: A Novel Strategy for Liver Failure,” will test whether genetically modified pig livers can safely process human plasma outside the body to remove harmful inflammatory substances and preserve liver function. If successful, it could become the first biologically viable extracorporeal liver support system, offering critically ill patients a bridge to transplantation or recovery.
Liver failure is the only major end-stage organ failure without an effective rescue therapy. Each year in the U.S., more than 50,000 people die from liver failure, and nearly a quarter of transplant candidates are removed from the waiting list due to clinical deterioration.
Kim’s team has developed a dual-circuit system that allows human plasma to be processed by a genetically modified porcine liver while keeping blood cells separate, reducing immune and clotting risks. The platform will first be tested using discarded human livers in laboratory simulations, measuring its ability to clear toxins and inflammatory mediators while preserving liver function.
The Yale Liver Center, one of 17 NIH-supported Digestive Diseases Research Core Centers and one of only three focused on the liver, has been funded since 1984. The pilot study will lay the groundwork for an NIH R01 grant and early-phase clinical trials, potentially providing a lifeline for patients with acute or acute-on-chronic liver failure.