Establishment of a new method of inducing differentiation from human embryonic stem cells to hepatocytes in vitro and investigation of the clinical utility for cell transplantation.

我们证明，在给予肝细胞生长因子（HGF）和ActivinA后，人胚胎干细胞（hESCs）与胎鼠肝细胞共培养，在体外成熟为具有更高肝细胞功能的肝细胞样细胞。此外，我们还证明了人诱导多能干细胞（hiPSCs）可以分化为肝细胞样细胞。此外，我们认为成熟肝细胞移植治疗急性肝衰竭的存活率明显高于未成熟细胞移植。

We demonstrated that human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) matured into hepatocyte-like cells with higher hepatocyte function in vitro via co-culturing with the fetal murine hepatic cells after administration of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and ActivinA. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) could be differentiated into hepatocyte-like cells. Moreover, we suggested that transplantation of mature hepatocytes for acute liver failure significantly improved the survival rate in comparison to that of transplantation of immature cells.