Roskams Tania A, Libbrecht Louis, Desmet Valeer J
Laboratory of Morphology and Molecular Pathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Semin Liver Dis. 2003 Nov;23(4):385-96. doi: 10.1055/s-2004-815564.
Hepatic progenitor cells are immature epithelial cells that reside in the smallest ramifications of the biliary tree in human liver. These cells are capable of differentiating toward the biliary and the hepatocytic lineages and represent the human counterpart of the oval cells in murine liver. An increased number of progenitor cells (referred to as "activation") and differentiation of the same toward hepatocytes or bile duct epithelial cells, or both, is a component of virtually all human liver diseases. The extent of progenitor cell activation and the direction of differentiation are correlated with the severity of the disease and the type of mature epithelial cell (hepatocyte or bile duct epithelial cell), respectively, that is damaged. Analogous to findings in animal models of hepatocarcinogenesis, human hepatic progenitor cells most likely can give rise to hepatocellular carcinoma. The factors that govern human hepatic progenitor cell activation and differentiation are beginning to be identified.
肝祖细胞是存在于人类肝脏胆小管最细小分支中的未成熟上皮细胞。这些细胞能够向胆管和肝细胞谱系分化，相当于小鼠肝脏中的卵圆细胞。祖细胞数量增加（称为“激活”）以及其向肝细胞或胆管上皮细胞或两者的分化，实际上是所有人类肝脏疾病的一个组成部分。祖细胞激活的程度和分化方向分别与疾病的严重程度以及受损的成熟上皮细胞类型（肝细胞或胆管上皮细胞）相关。与肝癌发生动物模型中的发现类似，人类肝祖细胞很可能会引发肝细胞癌。调控人类肝祖细胞激活和分化的因素正开始被识别出来。
