肝病治療再獲突破性進展
2013年7月18日《細胞—干細胞》在線刊登了上海第二軍醫大學胡以平教授團隊的最新科研成果， 該課題組經過4年攻關，實現了小鼠成纖維細胞向肝干細胞分化的重編程， 并證明通過這種重編程方法所產生的肝干細胞具有與活體內自然存在的肝干細胞相似的生物學特性。
這在中國的肝干細胞研究上是一個重大突破。研究人員發現僅用 Hnf1β and Foxa3 兩種調控因子就足以將小鼠的胚胎成纖維細胞轉化為肝干細胞，從而建立了在實驗室里制備肝干細胞的技術體系。這些肝干細胞能在實驗室中擴增，并修復受損肝臟。在胡以平教授看來，各種肝病，包括晚期肝病，都能用病人自己的細胞制成的肝干細胞治愈，不過關鍵首先要在臨床上取得進展。這一成果的問世，為人類肝臟疾病的細胞治療、新藥開發以及組織工程研究奠定了新基礎。
原文檢索：
1. Cell stem cell
Reprogramming Fibroblasts into Bipotential Hepatic Stem Cells by Defined Factors
Recent studies have demonstrated direct reprogramming of fibroblasts into a range of somatic cell types, but to date stem or progenitor cells have only been reprogrammed for the blood and neuronal lineages. We previously reported generation of induced hepatocyte-like (iHep) cells by transduction of Gata4, Hnf1α, and Foxa3 in p19 Arf null mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). Here, we show that Hnf1β and Foxa3, liver organogenesis transcription factors, are sufficient to reprogram MEFs into induced hepatic stem cells (iHepSCs). iHepSCs can be stably expanded in vitro and possess the potential of bidirectional differentiation into both hepatocytic and cholangiocytic lineages. In the injured liver of fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (Fah)-deficient mice, repopulating iHepSCs become hepatocyte-like cells. They also engraft as cholangiocytes into bile ducts of mice with DDC-induced bile ductular injury. Lineage conversion into bipotential expandable iHepSCs provides a strategy to enable efficient derivation of both hepatocytes and cholangiocytes for use in disease modeling and tissue engineering.
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