Zhao Qinjun, Ren Hongying, Zhu Delin, Han Zhongchao
State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, Institute of Hematology and Blood Disease Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Peking Union of Medical College, Tianjin, 300020, People's Republic of China.
Biol Cell. 2009 Jul 31;101(10):557-71. doi: 10.1042/BC20080105.
Morbidity and mortality from cirrhosis is increasing rapidly in the world. Currently, orthotopic liver transplantation is the only definitive therapeutic option. However, its clinical use is limited, because of poor long-term graft survival, donor organ shortage and high costs associated with the procedure. Stem cell replacement strategies are therefore being investigated as an attractive alternative approach to liver repair and regeneration. In this review we discuss recent preclinical and clinical investigations that explore the therapeutic potential of stem cells in repair of liver injuries. Several types of stem cells. including embryonic stem cells, haematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells, can be induced to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells by defined culture conditions in vitro. Stem cell transplantation has been shown to significantly improve liver function and increase animal survival in experimentally-induced liver-injury models. Moreover, several pilot clinical studies have reported encouraging therapeutic effects in patients treated with stem cells. Although there remain many unresolved issues, the available data support the notion that stem cell technology may lead to the development of effective clinical modalities for human liver diseases.
在全球范围内，肝硬化导致的发病率和死亡率正在迅速上升。目前，原位肝移植是唯一确定的治疗选择。然而，由于长期移植物存活率低、供体器官短缺以及与该手术相关的高成本，其临床应用受到限制。因此，干细胞替代策略正在作为一种有吸引力的肝脏修复和再生替代方法进行研究。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了最近探索干细胞在肝损伤修复中治疗潜力的临床前和临床研究。几种类型的干细胞，包括胚胎干细胞、造血干细胞和间充质干细胞，可通过体外特定培养条件诱导分化为肝细胞样细胞。在实验性肝损伤模型中，干细胞移植已被证明能显著改善肝功能并提高动物存活率。此外，几项初步临床研究报告了干细胞治疗患者的鼓舞人心的治疗效果。尽管仍有许多未解决的问题，但现有数据支持干细胞技术可能会导致开发出针对人类肝脏疾病的有效临床治疗方法这一观点。
