Potential Applications of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) in Hepatology Research

Title:Potential Applications of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) in Hepatology Research

Volume: 10 Issue: 3

Author(s): Chao Sun, George S. Wilson, Jian-Gao Fan and Liang Qiao

Affiliation:

Keywords: Bio-artificial liver, cell-based therapy, disease modeling, drug screening, hepatocyte-like cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, liver disease.

Abstract: Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) share many characteristics with embryonic stem cells (ESCs), but circumvent most of the ethical issues surrounding ESCs. The use of iPSCs to treat liver diseases is gaining increasing interest. Recent studies show these iPSCs can be differentiated into the hepatic lineage and provide an accurate model for liver diseases, drug screening and drug toxicity testing. Recently, the potential application of iPSC-derived hepatocytes to be used in cell-based therapies has been explored as a novel strategy to treat human liver disease. However, the successful use of these iPSC-derived hepatocytes hinges on overcoming the inherent problems of using iPSC in cell-based therapies. Given these problems are addressed in the future, these iPSC derived hepatocytes provide a limitless supply of cells that could be used to treat liver diseases not only in screening and toxicity testing but also in cell-based therapies.

Cite this article as:

Sun Chao, S. Wilson George, Fan Jian-Gao and Qiao Liang, Potential Applications of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) in Hepatology Research, Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy 2015; 10 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1574888X10666150120105946