Open AccessSignalling pathways involved in the process of mesenchymal stem cells differentiating into hepatocytes
Author(s) -
Ye JunSong,
Su XiaoSan,
Stoltz J.F.,
Isla N.,
Zhang Lei
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cell proliferation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.647
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1365-2184
pISSN - 0960-7722
DOI - 10.1111/cpr.12165
Subject(s) - oncostatin m , hepatocyte growth factor , mesenchymal stem cell , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , fibroblast growth factor , transplantation , stem cell , embryonic stem cell , cancer research , epidermal growth factor , cellular differentiation , growth factor , hepatocyte , immunology , cell culture , medicine , cytokine , in vitro , interleukin 6 , genetics , receptor , gene
Abstract End‐stage liver disease can be the termination of acute or chronic liver diseases, with manifestations of liver failure; transplantation is currently an effective treatment for these. However, transplantation is severely limited due to the serious lack of donors, expense, graft rejection and requirement of long‐term immunosuppression. Mesenchymal stem cells ( MSC s) have attracted considerable attention as therapeutic tools as they can be obtained with relative ease and expanded in culture, along with features of self‐renewal and multidirectional differentiation. Many scientific groups have sought to use MSC s differentiating into functional hepatocytes to be used in cell transplantation with liver tissue engineering to repair diseased organs. In most of the literature, hepatocyte differentiation refers to use of various additional growth factors and cytokines, such as hepatocyte growth factor ( HGF ), fibroblast growth factor ( FGF ), epidermal growth factor ( EGF ), oncostatin M ( OSM ) and more, and most are involved in signalling pathway regulation and cell–cell/cell–matrix interactions. Signalling pathways have been shown to play critical roles in embryonic development, tumourigenesis, tumour progression, apoptosis and cell‐fate determination. However, mechanisms of MSC s differentiating into hepatocytes, particularly signalling pathways involved, have not as yet been completely illustrated. In this review, we have focused on progress of signalling pathways associated with mesenchymal stem cells differentiating into hepatocytes along with the stepwise differentiation procedure.