Advances in study of hepatocyte-like cells derived from embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells

Abstract

The treatment of end-stage liver diseases such as cirrhosis, primary liver cancer, metabolic liver diseases is becoming a serious issue of healthcare worldwide. Hepatocyte transplantation (HT) is a promising alternative treatment for these diseases. However, because of limited availability and difficulty of in vitro proliferation of hepatocytes, the clinical application of HT is severely limited. Research on stem cells opens up a whole new approach for these problems. Hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) derived from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides a suitable source of hepatocytes for cell replacement therapy in clinics, and may have potential roles in drug evaluation and basic studies of hepatogenesis. This article reviewed the advances in study of directed differentiation of ESCs and iPSCs to HLCs in vitro.