In a breakthrough which can help damaged livers repair naturally and quickly, scientists claim to have discovered a protein that could double the speed of liver cell growth, helping the organ to heal on its own.<br/>A team at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research has found that a protein, TWEAK, significantly raises the growth rate of liver progenitor cells (LPCs)- crucial stem cells in liver repair, the 'Hepatology' journal reported.<br/>Lead author Dr Janina Tirnitz-Parker said when the team set out to understand how TWEAK affected LPCs, they discovered it had a dramatic effect on cell growth. <br/>They had LPCs growing in culture and put TWEAK on top of them to find out what effect it might have, and what they saw was very exciting — LPCs grew twice as fast as they normally would.<br/>She said, this means that there could be a potential to use TWEAK to help damaged livers repair themselves by growing new healthy cells at a much faster pace. Head of WAIMR's Laboratory for Liver Disease and Carcinogenesis and study co-author Professor George Yeoh said this is a significant discovery in the field and to the evolution of treatments away from liver transplants.<br/>