The Application of Human Placenta-Derived Multipotent Cells in Hepatic Tissue Engineering

Liver is an important organ for metabolic and detoxify functions. For serious liver diseases, liver transplantation is the only treatment. However, the availability of donor liver is limited and many patients died each year. Recent studies revealed that hepatocyte transplantation during the past decade has provided proof that cell therapy could be effective. In addition to hepatocytes, stem cells with capabilities of differentiating into hepatocytes have been used in this study. The experimental results showed the direct transplantation of stem cells yield limited numbers of stem cell-derived hepatocytes in recipient animals. Thus, the application of tissue engineering strategy seems to be promising for the therapeutic approach. For the establishment of hepatic constructs, the type of seeded cells is important. Until now, only human hepatoma cell lines, human embryonic cells, and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells have been tested for their potentials in hepatic tissue engineering. Recently, we identified placenta-derived stem cells (PDMCs) from human term placenta. Placenta is a easy accessible, low infection rate, and young age source. The isolated progenitors are capable of differentiating into three germ layer cells. Thus make them promising for future application. Our lab is the first group reported that PDMCs could be converted to hepatocyte-like cells not only express liver cell-specific markers such as albumin and human hepatocyte-specific antigen but also showed hepatocyte-specific biological functions. In this proposal, we aim to study the potential of hepatic tissue engineering application of PDMCs. The effects of various scaffolds on PDMCs culture will be evaluated first. Then, the PDMCs in 3-D culture will be induced to differentiate toward hepatocyte and the induction protocol will be optimized by the application of bioreactors. Finally, the therapeutic effects of cell constructs will be evaluated in xenograft animal model.

Project ID:PC9902-1869
External Project ID:NSC98-2314-B182-061-MY3