肝细胞在肝脏再生中的重编程:生物机制和应用

The liver is an important organ in vertebrates that plays an essential role in metabolism. It is also responsible for storing and redistributing nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, and vitamins in the body. Additionally, the liver releases bile salts which are critical for digesting food and eliminating toxic metabolites from the body.
Cells of Liver
The liver comprises four major types of cells— hepatocytes, stellate, Kupffer, and sinusoidal endothelial cells. The hepatocytes are...

After cellular or tissue damage, the resident stem cells present in the human body can locally repair and regenerate the damaged tissue or organ. However, even though some tissues do not have stem cells, they can repair and regenerate with the help of pre-existing cells. For example, beta cells of the pancreas and hepatocytes of the liver can divide to renew and regenerate the tissue. Here, both cell division and cell death are well regulated by homeostasis.
However, failure of such a system...

Reprogramming alters the gene expression in somatic cells, transforming them into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells over several generations. Scientists can reprogram cells by introducing genes for four transcription factors—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc (OSKM) by viral or non-viral methods. These factors are also known as Yamanaka factors after Shinya Yamanaka, who first generated iPS cells using mouse skin cells. Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012...