Proceedings: moving toward cell-based therapies for liver disease.

Despite available medical therapy and organ transplantation, a significant unmet medical need remains for the treatment of liver failure, end-stage liver disease, and liver-based inborn errors of metabolism. Liver cell transplantation has the potential to address this need; however, the field is in search of a suitable cell therapeutic. The ability to reproducibly generate a well-characterized source of engraftable and functional liver cells has continued to be a challenge. Recent progress with tissue-derived stem/progenitor cells and pluripotent stem cell-derived cells now offers the field the opportunity to address this challenge.