23 Jul Method for transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into hepatic stem cells
Abstract
The invention relates to the technical field of biomedical engineering. Liver transplantation is the only effective means that can be employed for treating liver diseases in late stage at present and is greatly limited in clinic use due to lack of liver sources. Hepatic stem cells have a self-updating capacity and a bidirectional differentiation capacity of differentiating into hepatocytes and cholangiocytes and therefore can provide an infinite number of donor cells for hepatocyte transplantation treatment in theory. The method for the transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into hepatic stem cells, which is provided by the invention, is to reprogram fibroblasts into hepatic stem cells which have the unique self-updating and bidirectional differentiation capacities of hepatic stem cells by using three transcription factors, namely c-Jun, Foxa2 and Hnf1beta. The inducible hepatic stem cells prepared by the method can be used as ideal cell sources for cell treatment of acute hepatic failure and liver diseases in medium and late stages, can be used as seed cells for medicine screening and tissue engineering livers and can provide an ideal research platform for researching cell biological characteristics of hepatic stem cells, liver development and the like.
Year: 2011
Country: CN
Doc No: 102286535