الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Induced Pluripotent stem cells is a new and promising approach for the treatment of liver diseases. iPSCs might potentially solve the problem of lifelong immunosuppressant, as they could be converted into the desired cell types that would already be genetically matched with the patient. Another key advantage of iPSCs over current transplantation approaches is the possibility of repairing disease-causing mutations by homologous recombination, a technology that has been used with limited success in adult stem cells because of severe difficulties in growing them outside the body. Several problems remain to be resolved before the transplantation of liver stem cells can be used clinically. The first is to determine whether the animal studies can be translated to the human situation. A major problem is isolating human liver stem cells mainly because there is no specific marker for stem or progenitor cells. This will involve the identification of suitable stem cell markers. The issue of immune rejection must also be addressed. Lastly, understanding the rules for the basis of hepatic differentiation is crucial for rational progress in the area of therapeutic stem-cell transplantation. |