Analyses of cell fate determination in fetal hepatoblast

胎肝母细胞分化为肝细胞和胆管细胞。调控这种血统承诺的确切分子机制仍不清楚。SALL4已被证明是胚胎发生、器官发生、维持多能性和决定ES细胞早期胚胎细胞命运的调节因子之一。我们在这里提供了它们在肝母细胞中的第一个描述。SALL4在肝母细胞的谱系分化中起关键作用，它不仅抑制肝母细胞向肝细胞的分化，而且促进其向胆管细胞的分化。

Fetal hepatoblasts differentiate into both hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. The precise molecular mechanisms regulating this lineage commitment remain unknown. Sall4 has been shown to be among the regulators of embryogenesis, organogenesis, maintenance of pluripotency, and early embryonic cell fate determinations in ES cells. We here provide their first description in hepatoblasts. Sall4 plays a key role in regulating the lineage segmentation of hepatoblasts, not only inhibiting their differentiation into hepatocytes, but also driving their differentiation toward cholangiocytes.