[Liver-targeted regenerative medicine]

Recently, much attention has been drawn to liver-targeted regenerative medicine for the treatment of liver failure. Researchers in various fields consider that the following cells can be used for such therapy: human embryonic stem (ES) cells, somatic stem cells, hepatic stem cells, small hepatocytes, bone marrow- and cord blood-derived hepatic progenitor cells, and human hepatocyte cell lines. The Cre/loxP-based reversible immortalization of human hepatocytes is also introduced in this review article. Here we describe the candidates that can contribute to hepatic regeneration. This reversible immortalization system allows us to establish a highly safe human hepatocyte line that is capable of differentiation at a lower cost and on a larger scale.