Elucidation of supportive microRNAs during hepatic specification of reprogrammed cells in liver cell therapy (C12*)

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The new project C12 uses an alternative approach to generate sufficient numbers of autologous hepatocytes from stem cell sources. An advantage of using autologous liver cells is that major immunosuppressive therapy could be avoided in this setting. The group has already identified several microRNAs that support hepatocyte differentiation from pluripotent stem cells in a DFG-funded project. They will now continue to use combinations of the miRs identified in their earlier work. In addition, they will screen hepatoma cells in order to identify the mRNA targets of the miRs. Transdifferentiation of fibroblasts directly into induced hepatic cells (iHeps) represents another potential source of mature hepatocytes as recently discovered by two groups. C12 will also investigate the potential of microRNAs to facilitate this direct transdifferentiation.