Induced pluripotent stem cells: a new era for hepatology.
Stem cell transplantation has been proposed as an attractive alternative approach to restore liver mass and function. Recent progress has been reported on the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from somatic cells. Human-iPS cells can be differentiated towards the hepatic lineage which presents possibilities for improving research on diseases, drug development, tissue engineering, the development of bio-artificial livers, and a foundation for producing autologous cell therapies that would avoid immune rejection and enable correction of gene defects prior to cell transplantation. This focused review will discuss how human iPS cell advances are likely to have an impact on hepatology.
Asgari
Samira
S
Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
Pournasr
Behshad
B
Salekdeh
Ghasem Hosseini
GH
Ghodsizadeh
Arefeh
A
Ott
Michael
M
Baharvand
Hossein
H
D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D019164:Liver, Artificial; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation*; D023822:Tissue Engineering