US scientists isolate liver stem cells
A stable line of human fetal liver stem cells has been isolated and characterized for the first time, U.S. scientists reported on Monday.
The liver stem cells, which have shown the ability to repopulate damaged livers in mice, could be valuable for the treatment of liver diseases in the future, said a research team at the University of Washington.
Their findings appeared in the June 12 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The adult liver contains a reservoir of progenitor cells, which provide the organ with a high regenerative potential. But so far these cells have not been successfully isolated from human livers.
According Nelson Fausto, a professor at the University of Washington who led the study, the researchers derived for the first time progenitor cells from livers in human fetuses of 74 to 108 days.
First, they removed and maintained human fetal livers in culture. Then the researchers treated the colonies with a selective antibiotic, and mechanically isolated stem cells from the liver cells.
Like other stem cells, these liver progenitors displayed the ability for long-term self-renewal, and the capacity to differentiate into multiple cell types.
In laboratory conditions, the liver stem cells can differentiate into not only liver tissue cells (hepatocytes) and bile duct cells, but also fat, bone, and cartilage tissue cells, the researchers said.
When transplanted into mice with damaged livers, the human stem cells survived and repopulated part of the damaged tissue. "They can differentiate into functional hepatocytes in vivo, suggesting liver repopulation potential," the researchers wrote in the paper.
The liver stem cells have durable proliferative capability, according to the researchers. Even after being kept in culture for 6 months, the cells can still be induced to differentiate into functional hepatocytes and biliary duct cells in experiments.
"We anticipate that human fetus multipotent progenitor cells (liver stem cells) will be a valuable tool to study differentiation pathways in the human liver and may have important therapeutic applications in patients with liver failure," the researchers said.
They suggested that other organs, such as the pancreas and the kidney, in human fetuses may have similar stem cells.
"We are also exploring the use of this approach to isolate similar cell populations from other embryonic organs, such as the pancreas and the kidney."
Source: Xinhua
The liver stem cells, which have shown the ability to repopulate damaged livers in mice, could be valuable for the treatment of liver diseases in the future, said a research team at the University of Washington.
Their findings appeared in the June 12 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The adult liver contains a reservoir of progenitor cells, which provide the organ with a high regenerative potential. But so far these cells have not been successfully isolated from human livers.
According Nelson Fausto, a professor at the University of Washington who led the study, the researchers derived for the first time progenitor cells from livers in human fetuses of 74 to 108 days.
First, they removed and maintained human fetal livers in culture. Then the researchers treated the colonies with a selective antibiotic, and mechanically isolated stem cells from the liver cells.
Like other stem cells, these liver progenitors displayed the ability for long-term self-renewal, and the capacity to differentiate into multiple cell types.
In laboratory conditions, the liver stem cells can differentiate into not only liver tissue cells (hepatocytes) and bile duct cells, but also fat, bone, and cartilage tissue cells, the researchers said.
When transplanted into mice with damaged livers, the human stem cells survived and repopulated part of the damaged tissue. "They can differentiate into functional hepatocytes in vivo, suggesting liver repopulation potential," the researchers wrote in the paper.
The liver stem cells have durable proliferative capability, according to the researchers. Even after being kept in culture for 6 months, the cells can still be induced to differentiate into functional hepatocytes and biliary duct cells in experiments.
"We anticipate that human fetus multipotent progenitor cells (liver stem cells) will be a valuable tool to study differentiation pathways in the human liver and may have important therapeutic applications in patients with liver failure," the researchers said.
They suggested that other organs, such as the pancreas and the kidney, in human fetuses may have similar stem cells.
"We are also exploring the use of this approach to isolate similar cell populations from other embryonic organs, such as the pancreas and the kidney."
Source: Xinhua
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