Tissue engineering of the biliary tract and modelling of cholestatic disorders.

Abstract Our insight into the pathogenesis of cholestatic liver disease remains limited, partly due to challenges in capturing the multitude of factors contributing to the disease pathogenesis in vitro. Tissue engineering could address this challenge by combining cells, materials and fabrication strategies into dynamic modelling platforms, recapitulating the multifaceted aetiology of cholangiopathies. Here we review different platforms for bioengineering the biliary tree, their advantages and limitations, how these can be applied in modelling biliary disorders and explore future directions for the field.