Tsuchiya A, Lu WY. Liver stem cells: Plasticity of the liver epithelium. World J Gastroenterol 2019; 25(9): 1037-1049 [PMID: 30862993 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i9.1037]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Wei-Yu Lu, PhD, Research Fellow, Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, the University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom. w.lu.3@bham.ac.uk
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 7, 2019; 25(9): 1037-1049 Published online Mar 7, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i9.1037
Liver stem cells: Plasticity of the liver epithelium
Atsunori Tsuchiya, Wei-Yu Lu
Atsunori Tsuchiya, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate school of medical and dental sciences, Niigata University, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan
Wei-Yu Lu, Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, the University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Tsuchiya A and Lu WY contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts-of-interest related to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei-Yu Lu, PhD, Research Fellow, Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, the University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom. w.lu.3@bham.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-121-4146854 Fax: +44-121-4158701
Received: October 25, 2018 Peer-review started: October 26, 2018 First decision: November 29, 2018 Revised: January 21, 2019 Accepted: January 26, 2019 Article in press: January 26, 2019 Published online: March 7, 2019
Abstract
The liver has a high regenerative capacity after acute liver injury, but this is often impaired during chronic liver injury. The existence of a dedicated liver stem cell population that acts as a source of regeneration during chronic liver injury has been controversial. Recent advances in transgenic models and cellular reprogramming have provided new insights into the plasticity of the liver epithelium and directions for the development of future therapies. This article will highlight recent findings about the cellular source of regeneration during liver injury and the advances in promoting liver regeneration.
Core tip: There have been controversies regarding the existence of a true liver stem cell population. Nevertheless, more evidence is beginning to reveal that cellular plasticity in the liver plays a role in liver regeneration. This mini-review highlights recent findings about plasticity in the liver epithelium.
