Tanimizu Naoki
Department of Tissue Development and Regeneration, Research Institute for Frontier Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1905:9-17. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8961-4_2.
Liver stem/progenitor cells (LPCs) are defined as bipotential cells differentiating into both hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. The Notch, TGFβ, and Hippo pathways have been implicated in lineage determination of LPCs during development and regeneration. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the lineage specification have not been fully elucidated, yet. Epithelial adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a marker of cholangiocytes and of LPCs. We found that EpCAM cells isolated from neonatal liver contain LPCs that clonally proliferate and are bipotential in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, EpCAM progenies keep the capacity of bidirectional differentiation even after long-term culture. These cells are useful to investigate the molecular mechanisms regulating lineage commitment and epithelial differentiation of LPCs.
肝干细胞/祖细胞（LPCs）被定义为可分化为肝细胞和胆管细胞的双潜能细胞。Notch、TGFβ和Hippo信号通路在LPCs发育和再生过程中的谱系决定中发挥作用。然而，调控谱系特化的分子机制尚未完全阐明。上皮黏附分子（EpCAM）是胆管细胞和LPCs的标志物。我们发现，从新生肝脏分离的EpCAM细胞含有LPCs，这些LPCs能克隆增殖，在体外和体内均具有双潜能。此外，即使经过长期培养，EpCAM子代细胞仍保持双向分化能力。这些细胞有助于研究调节LPCs谱系定向和上皮分化的分子机制。
