López-Luque Judit, Fabregat Isabel
TGF-β and Cancer Group, Oncobell Program, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L´Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
Int J Dev Biol. 2018;62(6-7-8):441-451. doi: 10.1387/ijdb.170264JL.
The liver is structurally and functionally heterogeneous and complex, and it accomplishes crucial functions for the organism. Its most remarkable potential is its capacity to regenerate after injury in order to maintain whole body homeostasis and guarantee the survival of the individual. Under normal conditions, liver regeneration (LR) is attributed to adult hepatocytes, the main cells in the liver which are able to proliferate in response to different stimuli or injuries. Nevertheless, when liver injury is severe and/or hepatocytes are prevented from proliferation, liver stem/progenitor cells (LS/PCs) participate directing LR to maintain liver mass and functions. Different mechanisms have been shown to guide this second line of LR, such as intrahepatic and extrahepatic liver progenitor cells, as well as transdifferentiation processes between hepatocytes and other liver cells. For this reason, many efforts have been made to elucidate the specific molecular mechanisms which orchestrate this process; this in turn would improve the prognosis and treatment of liver diseases. In this review, we revisit the fascinating process of LR, also with a short overview about liver development, the process from which arises the concept of LS/PCs participating in LR, and very important nowadays when considering cell therapy and tissue bioengineering for the treatment of patients suffering from liver disease.
肝脏在结构和功能上具有异质性和复杂性，它为机体完成关键功能。其最显著的潜能是在损伤后具有再生能力，以维持全身稳态并确保个体存活。在正常情况下，肝再生（LR）归因于成年肝细胞，肝细胞是肝脏中的主要细胞，能够对不同刺激或损伤作出增殖反应。然而，当肝损伤严重和/或肝细胞增殖受阻时，肝干/祖细胞（LS/PCs）会参与引导肝再生，以维持肝脏质量和功能。已显示不同机制可引导这第二条肝再生途径，例如肝内和肝外肝祖细胞，以及肝细胞与其他肝细胞之间的转分化过程。因此，人们已做出许多努力来阐明协调这一过程的具体分子机制；这反过来将改善肝脏疾病的预后和治疗。在本综述中，我们重新审视肝再生这一引人入胜的过程，同时简要概述肝脏发育，即参与肝再生的肝干/祖细胞概念的起源过程，而在考虑用于治疗肝病患者的细胞疗法和组织生物工程时，这一过程如今非常重要。
