Therapeutic potential of stem cell in liver regeneration

Abstract

Liver transplantation is the only life-saving procedure for patients with end-stage liver disease. However, its potential benefits are hampered by many disadvantages, such as the relative shortage of donors, operative risks, and high costs. These issues have prompted the search for new alternative therapies for irreversible liver disease. Stem cell therapy, with the ability for self-renewal and potential for multilineage differentiation, is a promising alternative approach. Several studies have demonstrated that transplantation of hepatic stem/progenitor cells or hepatocyte-like cells derived from multipotent stem cells leads to donor cell-mediated repopulation of the liver and improved survival rates in experimental models of liver disease. However, a registered clinical application based on stem cell technology will take at least an additional 5 to 10 years because of some limitations; e.g. the lack of suitable cell sources and risk of teratoma formation. This review summarizes the general understanding of the therapeutic potentials of stem cells in liver disease, including the sources, mechanisms, and delivery methods of hepatic stem cells in liver regeneration, and discusses some challenges for their therapeutic application.

Effect of Multipotent Stromal Cells on the Function of Cell Mitochondria in Regenerating Liver

“…The spleen is the most suitable organ for MSC transplantation for liver regeneration, primarily because these organs have common circulation [11].…”

Cross Effects of Resveratrol and Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Liver Regeneration and Homing in Partially Hepatectomized Rats

“…Two alternative pathways were suggested for the effect of MSCs on liver regeneration: the transdifferentiation of MSCs into hepatocytes and the secretion of growth factors by the administered MSCs, such as vascular endothelial growth factor and HGF. There are many studies showing that MSC administration significantly affects regeneration [25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. However, it is difficult to ignore the studies like that by Popp et al who reported that MSCs did not differentiate into hepatocytes when administered under regenerative conditions; they compared this result with the studies showing that MSCs differentiate into hepatocytes under non-standard conditions or after a long time [32][33][34].…”

Implication of hepatic stem cells in functional liver repopulation

“…One principle reason for that is probably the poor quality of human hepatocytes isolated from marginal donor organs not suited for transplantation. Therefore, the search for alternative (stem) cell sources both from hepatic and nonhepatic origin as described above has called for much attention to generate stem cell‐based hepatocytes for the treatment of human liver diseases (47, 130–132). The principles of hepatocyte transplantation are also valid for transplantation of stem cell‐derived hepatocytes.…”