Ma Li, Wu Qiang, Tam Paul Kwong-Hang
The State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, China.
Faculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, China.
Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2023 Oct;19(7):2155-2165. doi: 10.1007/s12015-023-10592-4. Epub 2023 Jul 25.
Liver fibrosis was initially considered to be an irreversible process which will eventually lead to the occurrence of liver cancer. So far there has been no effective therapeutic approach to treat liver fibrosis although scientists have put tremendous efforts into the underlying mechanisms of this disease. Therefore, in-depth research on novel and safe treatments of liver fibrosis is of great significance to human health. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) play important roles in the study of liver fibrosis due to their unique features in self-renewal ability, pluripotency, and paracrine function. This article mainly reviews the applications of PSCs in the study of liver fibrosis in recent years. We discuss the role of PSC-derived liver organoids in the study of liver fibrosis, and the latest research advances on the differentiation of PSCs into hepatocytes or macrophages. We also highlight the importance of exosomes of PSCs for the treatment of liver fibrosis.
肝纤维化最初被认为是一个不可逆的过程，最终会导致肝癌的发生。尽管科学家们在该疾病的潜在机制方面付出了巨大努力，但迄今为止，尚无有效的治疗方法来治疗肝纤维化。因此，深入研究新型且安全的肝纤维化治疗方法对人类健康具有重要意义。多能干细胞（PSCs）因其在自我更新能力、多能性和旁分泌功能方面的独特特性，在肝纤维化研究中发挥着重要作用。本文主要综述了近年来多能干细胞在肝纤维化研究中的应用。我们讨论了多能干细胞来源的肝类器官在肝纤维化研究中的作用，以及多能干细胞向肝细胞或巨噬细胞分化的最新研究进展。我们还强调了多能干细胞外泌体在治疗肝纤维化中的重要性。
