Submitted on April 9, 2009
Revised on May 14, 2009
Accepted on June 4, 2009
Progress and Future Challenges in Stem Cell-Derived Liver Technologies
Donna M Dalgetty1, Claire N. Medine1, John P. Iredale2, and David Colin Hay1*
1 University of Edinburgh
2 U of Edinburgh
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: davehay{at}talktalk.net.
The emergence of regenerative medicine has led to significant advances in the identification and understanding of human stem cells and adult progenitor cells. Both cell populations exhibit plasticity and theoretically offer a potential source of somatic cells in large numbers. Such a resource has an important role to play in the understanding of human development; in modelling human disease and drug toxicity and the generation of somatic cells in large numbers for cell-based therapies. Presently, liver transplantation is the only effective treatment for end stage liver disease. Although this procedure can be carried out with high levels of success, the routine transplant of livers is severely limited by organ donor availability. As a result attention has focused on the ability to restore liver mass and function using alternative approaches ranging from the bio-artificial device to transplantation of human hepatocytes. In this review we will focus on the generation of human hepatic endoderm from different stem/progenitor cell populations with a view to its utility in regenerative medicine.
