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Applying stem cell technology to liver diseases

Date:
August 26, 2010
Source:
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Summary:
Great excitement greeted the discovery a few years ago that certain cells from mice and humans could be reprogrammed to become inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) as they hold promise for cell replacement therapy and modeling human disease. Two independent research groups have now shown that both possibilities are true for iPS cell-derived liver cells known as hepatocytes.
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Great excitement greeted the discovery a few years ago that certain cells from mice and humans could be reprogrammed to become inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), as they hold promise for cell replacement therapy and modeling human disease.

Two independent research groups -- one led by Ludovic Vallier, at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and the other led by Holger Willenbring, at the University of California San Francisco -- have now shown that both possibilities are true for iPS cell-derived liver cells known as hepatocytes.

In the first study, Vallier and colleagues generated iPS cells from patients with various inherited diseases of the liver. These cells were then cultured in a defined way to generate hepatocytes, which were found to recapitulate key features of the diseases affecting the patients from which they were derived. While this study indicates that iPS cells can be used to model diseases of the liver, Willenbring and colleagues showed that iPS cell-derived hepatocytes have both the functional and proliferative capabilities needed for liver regeneration in mice.

In an accompanying commentary, Linda Greenbaum, at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, describes how these studies have extended our understanding of the potential for iPS cells to be used for cell replacement therapy and modeling human disease.


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Materials provided by Journal of Clinical Investigation. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal References:

  1. Silvia Espejel, Garrett R. Roll, K. John Mclaughlin, Andrew Y. Lee, Jenny Y. Zhang, Diana J. Laird, Keisuke Okita, Shinya Yamanaka, and Holger Willenbring. Induced pluripotent stem cell–derived hepatocytes have the functional and proliferative capabilities needed for liver regeneration in mice. J Clin Invest, August 25, 2010 DOI: 10.1172/JCI43267
  2. S. Tamir Rashid, Sebastien Corbineau, Nick Hannan, Stefan J. Marciniak, Elena Miranda, Graeme Alexander, Isabel Huang-Doran, Julian Griffin, Lars Ahrlund-Richter, Jeremy Skepper, Robert Semple, Anne Weber, David A. Lomas, Ludovic Vallier. Modeling inherited metabolic disorders of the liver using human induced pluripotent stem cells. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 25 August 2010 DOI: 10.1172/JCI43122

Cite This Page:

Journal of Clinical Investigation. "Applying stem cell technology to liver diseases." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 August 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825131542.htm>.
Journal of Clinical Investigation. (2010, August 26). Applying stem cell technology to liver diseases. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 8, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825131542.htm
Journal of Clinical Investigation. "Applying stem cell technology to liver diseases." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100825131542.htm (accessed December 8, 2024).

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