Year: 2011
Type: review
Abstract: Stem cells have potential for therapy of liver diseases, but may also be involved in the formation of liver cancer. Recently, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Henry M. and Lillian Stratton Basic Research Single Topic Conference "Stem Cells in Liver Diseases and Cancer: Discovery and Promise" brought together a diverse group of investigators to define the status of research on stem cells and cancer stem cells in the liver and identify problems and solutions on the path to clinical translation. This report summarizes the outcomes of the conference and provides an update on recent research advances. Progress in liver stem cell research includes isolation of primary liver progenitor cells (LPCs), directed hepatocyte differentiation of primary LPCs and pluripotent stem cells, findings of transdifferentiation, disease-specific considerations for establishing a therapeutically effective cell mass, and disease modeling in cell culture. Tumor-initiating stem-like cells (TISCs) that emerge during chronic liver injury share the expression of signaling pathways, including those organized around transforming growth factor beta and β-catenin, and surface markers with normal LPCs. Recent investigations of the role of TISCs in hepatocellular carcinoma have provided insight into the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of hepatocarcinogenesis. Targeted chemotherapies for TISC are in development as a means to overcome cellular resistance and mechanisms driving disease progression in liver cancer.
Source: Hepatology
DOI: 10.1002/hep.24762
Authors: Bart C. Rountree, Lopa Mishra, Holger Willenbring
Language: English
Subfield: Hepatology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Liver regeneration with stems cells of uniparental origin, Molecular dissection of adult liver regeneration to guide the generation of hepatocytes from pluripotent stem cells, Gastrointestinal Cell Proliferation and Cell Cycle, Mechanisms of survival of liver cancer stem cells, G5862476776, Metastatic Potential of Colorectal Carcinoma, CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF GASTROINTESTINAL CANCERS, UCSF Liver Center
OpenAlex ID: W2058068487