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Hepatic Progenitor Specification from Pluripotent Stem Cells using a Defined Differentiation System
Published on: May 10, 2020
Expression kinetics of hepatic progenitor markers in cellular models of human liver development recapitulating
Pooja Chaudhari1, Lipeng Tian2, Abhijeet Deshmukh2
1Department of Oncology, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore 21205, USA Cellular and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore 21205, USA Institute for Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore 21205, USA.
Abstract:
Due to the limitations of research using human embryos and the lack of a biological model of human liver development, the roles of the various markers associated with liver stem or progenitor cell potential in humans are largely speculative, and based on studies utilizing animal models and certain patient tissues. Human pluripotent stem cell-based in vitro multistage hepatic differentiation systems may serve as good surrogate models for mimicking normal human liver development, pathogenesis and injury/regeneration studies. Here, we describe the implications of various liver stem or progenitor cell markers and their bipotency (i.e. hepatocytic- and biliary-epithelial cell differentiation), based on the pluripotent stem cell-derived model of human liver development. Future studies using the human cellular model(s) of liver and biliary development will provide more human relevant biological and/or pathological roles of distinct markers expressed in heterogeneous liver stem/progenitor cell populations.

