Premium
Lineage tracing reveals conversion of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells into hepatocytes
Author(s) -
Tan Zhaoli,
Chen Keyan,
Shao Yong,
Gao Lihua,
Wang Yan,
Xu Jianming,
Jin Yang,
Hu Xianwen,
Wang Youliang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
development, growth and differentiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1440-169X
pISSN - 0012-1592
DOI - 10.1111/dgd.12307
Subject(s) - liver regeneration , biology , regeneration (biology) , hepatocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , umbilical vein , biochemistry , in vitro
Although liver sinusoidal endothelial cells ( LSEC s) have long been known to contribute to liver regeneration following injury, the exact role of these cells in liver regeneration remains poorly understood. In this work, we performed lineage tracing of LSEC s in mice carrying Tie2‐Cre or VE ‐cadherin‐Cre constructs to facilitate fate‐mapping of LSEC s in liver regeneration. Some YFP ‐positive LSEC s were observed to convert into hepatocytes following a two‐thirds partial hepatectomy ( PH ). Furthermore, human umbilical vein endothelial cells ( HUVEC s) could be triggered to convert into cells that closely resembled hepatocytes when cultured with serum from mice that underwent an extended PH . These findings suggest that mature non‐hepatocyte LSEC s play an essential role in mammalian liver regeneration by converting to hepatocytes. The conversion of LSEC s to hepatocyte‐like ( iH ep) cells may provide a new approach to tissue engineering.