In vivo partial reprogramming by bacteria promotes adult liver organ growth without fibrosis and tumorigenesis.

ABSTRACT: Ideal therapies for regenerative medicine or healthy aging require healthy organ growth and rejuvenation, but no organ-level approach is currently available. Using Mycobacterium leprae (ML) with natural partial cellular reprogramming capacity and its animal host nine-banded armadillos, we present an evolutionarily refined model of adult liver growth and regeneration. In infected armadillos, ML reprogram the entire liver and significantly increase total liver/body weight ratio by increasing healthy liver lobules, including hepatocyte proliferation and proportionate expansion of vasculature, and biliary systems. ML-infected livers are microarchitecturally and functionally normal without damage, fibrosis, or tumorigenesis. Bacteria-induced reprogramming reactivates liver progenitor/developmen

SUBMITTER: Hess S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9729881 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature