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Overexpression of microRNA‐122 enhances in vitro hepatic differentiation of fetal liver‐derived stem/progenitor cells
Author(s) -
Doddapaneni Ravi,
Chawla Yogesh K.,
Das Ashim,
Kalra Jasvinder Kaur,
Ghosh Sujata,
Chakraborti Anuradha
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of cellular biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1097-4644
pISSN - 0730-2312
DOI - 10.1002/jcb.24499
Subject(s) - progenitor cell , microrna , microbiology and biotechnology , in vitro , stem cell , progenitor , biology , fetus , mir 122 , andrology , medicine , genetics , gene , pregnancy
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a versatile class of tiny non‐coding RNAs involved in regulation of various biological processes. miRNA‐122 (miR‐122) is specifically and abundantly expressed in human liver. However, the role of miR‐122 in differentiation of fetal liver stem/progenitor cells into hepatocytes remains unclear. In this study, dual positive CD34+/CD117+ expressing human fetal liver stem/progenitor cells was enriched by magnetic cell sorting and cultured in vitro. The level of miR‐122 was found to be increased at specific time intervals. Interestingly, during the differentiation process of hepatocyte‐like cells, the increase in expression of miR‐122 was positively correlated with expression of hepatocyte‐specific genes. The status of differentiation process was improved by transfection of miR‐122 into enriched stem/progenitor cells. The expression level of hepatic‐specific genes as well as liver‐enriched transcription factors (LETFs) was significantly increased by overexpression of miR‐122 in fetal liver stem/progenitor cells. Thus, the study delineated the role of hepato‐specific miR‐122 in differentiation of fetal liver stem/progenitor cells into hepatocyte‐like cells which could be used as a therapeutic target molecule to generate abundant hepatocytes. J. Cell. Biochem. 114: 1575–1583, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.