AIM: To investigate whether hepatocytes isolated from macroscopically normal liver during hepatic resection for neoplasia could provide a novel source of healthy hepatocytes, including the development of reliable protocols for malignant cells removal from the hepatocyte preparation.METHODS: Hepatocytes were procured from resected liver of 18 patients with liver tumors using optimised digestion and cell-enrichment protocols. Suspensions of various known quantities of the HT-29 tumor cell line and patient hepatocytes were treated or not with Ep-CAM-antibody-coated immunomagnetic beads in order to investigate the efficacy of tumor-purging by immunomagnetic depletion, using a semi-quantitative RT-PCR method developed to detect tumor cells.Immunomagnetic bead-treated or bead-untreated tumor cell-hepatocyte suspensions were transplanted intra-peritoneally in Balb/C nude mice to assess the rates of tumor development.RESULTS: Mean viable hepatocyte yield was 9.3 x 106 cells per gram of digested liver with mean viability of 70.5%. Immunomagnetic depletion removed tumor cells to below the RT-PCR detection-threshold of 1 tumor cell in 106 hepatocytes, representing a maximum tumor purging efficacy of greater than 400000-fold.Transplanted, immunomagnetic bead-purged tumor cell-hepatocyte suspensions did not form peritoneal tumors in Balb/C nude mice. Co-transplantation of hepatocytes with tumor cells did not increase tumorigenesis of the tumor cells.CONCLUSION: Immunomagnetic depletion appears to be an effective method of purging contaminating tumor cells to below threshold for likely tumorigenesis.Along with improved techniques for isolation of large numbers of viable hepatocytes, normal liver resected for neoplasia has potential as another clinically useful source of hepatocytes for transplantation.