Laboratory of Cell Growth and Differentiation, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Hepatology. 2016 Aug;64(2):663-8. doi: 10.1002/hep.28661. Epub 2016 Jun 24.
In severely or chronically injured livers where the proliferative capacity of hepatocytes is compromised, putative stem/progenitor cells are supposed to be activated. These cells are generally characterized as biliary epithelial cell marker-positive cells that emerge ectopically in the parenchymal region of the liver, as determined by histopathological examination of various liver diseases in humans and animal models. Whereas the biliary system indeed harbors cells with stem/progenitor activity that can be defined ex vivo, genetic lineage tracing studies in mice have casted doubt on their exact contribution as the genuine stem/progenitor cell population that differentiates in situ into hepatocytes. Here, I briefly review recent advances in the characterization and certification of the stem/progenitor cells in the adult liver and discuss the ongoing and future challenges to further our understanding of the cellular basis of liver regeneration. (Hepatology 2016;64:663-668).
在严重或慢性受损的肝脏中，当肝细胞的增殖能力受到损害时，推测干细胞/祖细胞会被激活。这些细胞通常被定义为胆管上皮细胞标志物阳性细胞，在人类和动物模型的各种肝脏疾病的组织病理学检查中，这些细胞异位出现在肝脏的实质区域。虽然胆道系统确实存在具有干细胞/祖细胞活性的细胞，可以在体外进行定义，但在小鼠中的遗传谱系追踪研究对其作为真正的干细胞/祖细胞群的确切贡献提出了质疑，这些细胞群可以在原位分化为肝细胞。在这里，我简要回顾了近年来在鉴定和认证成年肝脏中的干细胞/祖细胞方面的进展，并讨论了目前和未来的挑战，以进一步了解肝脏再生的细胞基础。（《肝脏病学》2016 年；64：663-668）。
