Zheng Yun-Wen, Taniguchi Hideki
Department of Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama City, Japan.
Semin Liver Dis. 2003 Nov;23(4):337-48. doi: 10.1055/s-2004-815557.
The liver is an organ with tremendous regenerative capacity. Hepatic stem cells, identified by flow cytometric sorting and single cell-based assays as c-Met (+)CD49f (+/low)c-Kit (-)CD45 (-)TER119 (-) cells in murine fetal livers, possess multilineage differentiation potential and self-renewing capability. These cells can differentiate in vitro as well as in vivo into some epithelia capable of reconstituting tissues within the liver, pancreas, and intestine following appropriate transplantation. The isolated fetal hepatic stem cells are also characterized by the ability to maintain their self-renewal capability in the developing liver. Thus, these cells may be ideal vehicles for delivering therapeutic genes to the liver. We also examined the relationship between fetal hepatic stem cells and hepatic oval cells in the adult liver. These two subtypes shared both multipotential capabilities of differentiation and surface marker expression profiles, suggesting that hepatic oval cells are probably the progeny of fetal hepatic stem cells. We also address the related topics of hepatocyte repopulation, exogenous hepatic stem cells, and transdifferentiation. Topics ranging from the fundamental properties and comprehensive descriptions of hepatic stem cells to current progress in the field are discussed in this brief article and our recent studies are addressed.
肝脏是一个具有巨大再生能力的器官。通过流式细胞术分选和基于单细胞的检测方法，在小鼠胎儿肝脏中鉴定出的肝干细胞为c-Met(+)CD49f(+ /低)c-Kit(-)CD45(-)TER119(-)细胞，具有多谱系分化潜能和自我更新能力。这些细胞在体外和体内均可分化为一些上皮细胞，在适当移植后能够在肝脏、胰腺和肠道内重建组织。分离出的胎儿肝干细胞还具有在发育中的肝脏中维持自我更新能力的特征。因此，这些细胞可能是将治疗性基因传递到肝脏的理想载体。我们还研究了胎儿肝干细胞与成年肝脏中的肝卵圆细胞之间的关系。这两种亚型具有多能分化能力和表面标志物表达谱，表明肝卵圆细胞可能是胎儿肝干细胞的后代。我们还讨论了肝细胞再生、外源性肝干细胞和转分化等相关主题。本文简要讨论了从肝干细胞的基本特性和全面描述到该领域当前进展的主题，并介绍了我们最近的研究。
