Moon Y J, Yoon H H, Lee M W, Jang I K, Lee D-H, Lee J-H, Lee S-K, Lee K-H, Kim Y J, Eom Y-W
Biomedical Research Institute, LifeCord Inc., Suwon, Kyonggi, Korea; Department of Life Science of Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea.
Transplant Proc. 2009 Dec;41(10):4357-60. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2009.08.053.
Umbilical cord blood (UCB), a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells, offers practical and ethical advantages. It has been reported that various adult stem cells transplanted into a damaged liver show characteristics of a hepatic lineage. In a previous study, we reported on novel UCB-derived adult stem cells, termed umbilical cord blood-derived multipotent progenitor cells (UCB-MPCs). We demonstrated that these cells were capable of differentiating into hepatocyte- like cells in vitro. To assess the hepatic differentiation capacity of UCB-MPCs, rat models of hepatic injury were generated using carbon tetra-chloride (CCl(4)) with transplantation of cells into the liver. The transplanted cells successfully incorporated into the liver of the recipient animal differentiated into functional hepatocyte-like cells that expressed hepatocyte-specific markers, such as CK-18 and albumin. Moreover, human albumin was detected in the serum of the recipient rat model. These data indicated that UCB-MPCs were capable of displaying similar characteristics to those of functional hepatocytes in a recipient liver. UCB-MPCs may prove to be a useful, transplantable alternative for hepatic progenitor cells in both experimental and therapeutic applications.
脐带血（UCB）是造血干细胞的丰富来源，具有实际和伦理优势。据报道，多种成体干细胞移植到受损肝脏后会表现出肝系特征。在之前的一项研究中，我们报道了新型的源自脐带血的成体干细胞，称为脐带血来源的多能祖细胞（UCB-MPCs）。我们证明这些细胞在体外能够分化为肝细胞样细胞。为了评估UCB-MPCs的肝分化能力，使用四氯化碳（CCl₄）建立肝损伤大鼠模型，并将细胞移植到肝脏中。移植的细胞成功整合到受体动物的肝脏中，分化为表达肝细胞特异性标志物（如CK-18和白蛋白）的功能性肝细胞样细胞。此外，在受体大鼠模型的血清中检测到了人白蛋白。这些数据表明，UCB-MPCs在受体肝脏中能够表现出与功能性肝细胞相似的特征。在实验和治疗应用中，UCB-MPCs可能被证明是肝祖细胞的一种有用的、可移植的替代物。
