News Releases & Research Results Human hepatic progenitor cells generated by direct reprogramming - Life-saving effects of cell transplantation in a mouse model of acute hepatic failure -

The results of the collaborative research and development project conducted by Professor Atsushi Suzuki of the Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Professor Yasuyuki Ohkawa, Professor Mikita Suyama, Professor Yoshihiko Maehara (currently Kyushu Central Hospital), Professor Yoshihiro Ogawa, and Lecturer Wataru Kumamaru of Kyushu University, Professor Masao Nagasaki of Kyoto University, and Researcher Kazuko Ueno of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.

• Using direct reprogramming, “induced hepatic progenitor cells (iHepPC)” with high potentials to proliferate and differentiate into hepatocytes and bile duct epithelial cells were successfully generated from human umbilical vein- and peripheral blood-derived endothelial cells.
• Hepatocytes differentiated from human iHepPC were transplanted into the liver of a model mouse of highly lethal (survival rate: 20%) acute hepatic failure, resulting in reconstruction and functioning of human hepatic parenchymal tissue in the mouse liver, with a high life-saving effect (survival rate: 80%).
• The results of this R&D project should promote the realization of novel transplantation medicine for patients with serious hepatic diseases and the construction of a system for evaluating drug efficacy and toxicity on an individual basis.

This program was conducted with the support of the Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine and the Advanced Research & Development Programs for Medical Innovation (AMED-CREST) by AMED.

The results were published in the British scientific journal Nature Communications on October 21.

Inada H., et al. Direct reprogramming of human umbilical vein- and peripheral blood-derived endothelial cells into hepatic progenitor cells Nature Communications
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19041-z