title: Human fetal liver cells for regulated ex vivo erythropoietin gene therapy.
abstract: Possible risks and lack of donor livers limit application of liver transplantation. Liver cell transplantation is, at this moment, not a feasible alternative because engraftment in the liver is poor. Furthermore, there is also shortage of cells suitable for transplantation. Fetal liver cells are able to proliferate in cell culture and could therefore present an alternative source of cells for transplantation. In this study, we investigated the utility of human fetal liver cells for therapeutic protein delivery. We transplanted human fetal liver cells in immunodeficient mice but were not able to detect engraftment of human hepatocytes. In contrast, transplantation of human adult hepatocytes led to detectable engraftment of hepatocytes in murine liver. Transplantation of fetal liver cells did lead to abundant reconstitution of murine liver with human endothelium, indicating that endothelial cells are the most promising cell type for ex vivo liver cell gene therapy. Human liver endothelial cells were subsequently transduced with a lentiviral autoregulatory erythropoietin expression vector. After transplantation in immunodeficient mice, these cells mediated long-term regulation of murine hematocrits. Our study shows the potential of human liver endothelial cells for long-term regulated gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ebtisam
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: El Filali
authors.affiliation: Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Duijst
authors.affiliation: Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johan K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Hiralall
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands ; Current address: AXENIS , Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Legrand
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Gulik
authors.affiliation: Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands ; Department of Experimental Surgery (Surgical Laboratory), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ruurdtje
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.affiliation: Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jurgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seppen