title: Progress and future challenges in stem cell-derived liver technologies.
abstract: 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 modeling human disease and drug toxicity, and in 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 by alternative approaches ranging from the bioartificial 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.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Dalgetty
authors.forename: Claire N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Medine
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Iredale
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Hay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000639:trends; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000639:trends; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008115:Liver Regeneration; D019164:Liver, Artificial / Q000639:trends*; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D044968:Regenerative Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000639:trends*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000639:trends*; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000639:trends