Feng Ting, Zhang Jun, Zeng Guifang, Zhou Rong, Tang Xiaohong, Cui Chang, Li Yongyong, Wang Hongwei, Li Tao, Zhu Weimin, Yu Zebo
Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Parasitic Diseases, Chongqing - China.
Int J Artif Organs. 2015 May;38(5):271-6. doi: 10.5301/ijao.5000390. Epub 2015 Apr 29.
BACKROUND/OBJECTIVE: Mesenchymal stem cells are probably one of the most promising alternatives for liver regeneration and repair. We present data supporting the ability of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) to generate hepatic elements and discuss the best transplantation pathway.
AHF mice were given hUCMSCs through tail-vein injection or into the liver lobes. Blood serum and liver tissues were collected to analyze the improvement of liver function and histological repair 24 h after hUCMSC administration. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression of human hepatocyte-specific markers in liver tissues.
The results showed significant statistical differences in liver function after transplantation (P<.05). Real-time PCR and immunochemistry results demonstrated that the expression of hepatocyte-specific markers such as CK18 and AFP were obviously increased in the treatment groups through both transplantation pathways. Our data indicate that hUCMSCs are one of the stem cell candidates for liver repair because hUCMSCs can be easily and readily isolated and differentiated into hepatocytes both in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, tail-vein injection of hUCMSCs has a similar therapeutic efficacy but is more convenient compared to liver lobe injection.
Our findings highlight the potential therapeutic value of hUCMSCs and show that cell transplantation through a peripheral vein is a safe and effective way to treat AHF mice. Furthermore, this method might mediate repair in patients with liver damage or disease in future clinical therapy.
背景/目的：间充质干细胞可能是肝脏再生和修复最有前景的替代方法之一。我们提供数据支持人脐带间充质干细胞（hUCMSCs）生成肝脏成分的能力，并讨论最佳移植途径。
将hUCMSCs通过尾静脉注射或注入肝叶给予急性肝衰竭（AHF）小鼠。在给予hUCMSCs后24小时收集血清和肝组织，以分析肝功能改善情况和组织学修复情况。采用实时聚合酶链反应和免疫组织化学检测肝组织中人肝细胞特异性标志物的表达。
结果显示移植后肝功能有显著统计学差异（P<0.05）。实时PCR和免疫化学结果表明，通过两种移植途径的治疗组中，细胞角蛋白18（CK18）和甲胎蛋白（AFP）等肝细胞特异性标志物的表达明显增加。我们的数据表明，hUCMSCs是肝脏修复的干细胞候选者之一，因为hUCMSCs可以很容易地分离出来，并且在体外和体内都能分化为肝细胞。此外，尾静脉注射hUCMSCs具有相似的治疗效果，但与肝叶注射相比更方便。
我们的研究结果突出了hUCMSCs的潜在治疗价值，并表明通过外周静脉进行细胞移植是治疗AHF小鼠的一种安全有效的方法。此外，这种方法可能在未来临床治疗中介导肝损伤或疾病患者的修复。
