Hepatocyte growth factor induces differentiation of adult rat bone marrow cells into a hepatocyte lineage in vitro.
Bone marrow (BM) cells originally include alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)- and c-Met [a receptor for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)]-expressing cells. In vitro treatment of BM cells with HGF induced albumin-expressing hepatocyte-like cells. Furthermore, those hepatocyte-like cells expressed cytokeratins 8 and 18, which are typically expressed in normal adult hepatocytes. These findings demonstrate that BM cells include AFP-expressing hepatic progenitor cells that can be differentiated into hepatocytes by HGF in culture, indicating that such cultures are useful resources for cell transplantation therapy for liver diseases.
Oh
S H
SH
Department of Cell Biology, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Okayama University Medical School, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan.
Miyazaki
M
M
Kouchi
H
H
Inoue
Y
Y
Sakaguchi
M
M
Tsuji
T
T
Shima
N
N
Higashio
K
K
Namba
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000494:pharmacology*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012709:Serum Albumin; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met