Differentiation of human iPS cells into hepatocytes by using hepatic stellate cells

诱导多能干细胞（iPS）具有分化为包括肝细胞在内的各种细胞谱系的显著潜力。iPS细胞诱导的肝细胞有望在生物医学研究、药物研究和再生医学等方面具有广泛的应用前景。本研究以肝星状细胞为饲养细胞，从人iPS细胞中诱导出肝样细胞，并分析其Oct 3/4、GATA 4、甲胎蛋白和白蛋白的表达水平，比较其向肝细胞分化的特性。

Induced pluripotent stem(iPS) cells have remarkable potential of differentiating into various cell lineages, including hepatocytes. Hepatocytes induced from iPS cells are expected to have medical applications such as biomedical research, drug study and regenerative medicine. In this study, we tried to induce hepatocyte-like cells from human iPS cells by using hepatic stellate cells as feeder cells, and analyze expression level of Oct3/4, GATA4, alpha-fetoprotein and albumin to compare their properties of differentiation into hepatocytes.