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World J Hepatol. Oct 27, 2018; 10(10): 702-707
Published online Oct 27, 2018. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v10.i10.702
Dental pulp cell bank as a possible future source of individual hepatocytes
Hiroshi Ishikawa, Taka Nakahara, Haruka Hirono, Shogo Ohkoshi
Shogo Ohkoshi, Haruka Hirono, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Life Dentistry at Niigata, the Nippon Dental University, Niigata 951-8580, Japan
Taka Nakahara, Department of Developmental and Regenerative Dentistry, School of Life Dentistry at Tokyo, the Nippon Dental University, Chiyoda-ku 102-8159, Japan
Hiroshi Ishikawa, Laboratory of Clinical Regenerative Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Laboratory of Advanced Research D #326, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan
Author contributions: Ohkoshi S wrote the paper; Hirono H, Nakahara T and Ishikawa H had critical discussions regarding the study and the manuscript with Ohkoshi S.
Supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, No. 17K08966 (to Ohkoshi S).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors do not have any commercial affiliation or consultancy that could be construed as a conflict of interest.
Open-Access: 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/
Correspondence to: Shogo Ohkoshi, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Life Dentistry at Niigata, the Nippon Dental University, 1-8 Hamaura-Cho, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8580, Japan. okoshi@ngt.ndu.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-25-2118243 Fax: +81-25-2671582
Received: March 29, 2018
Peer-review started: March 29, 2018
First decision: May 9, 2018
Revised: May 30, 2018
Accepted: July 10, 2018
Article in press: July 10, 2018
Published online: October 27, 2018
Processing time: 212 Days and 18.7 Hours
Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a source for regenerative medicine are now the subject of much clinical attention. There are high expectations due to their safety, low tumorigenic risk, and low ethical concerns. MSC therapy has been approved for acute graft-versus host diseases since 2015. Tooth-derived MSCs are known to have a great potential in their proliferation and differentiation capacities, even when compared with bone-marrow-derived MSCs. In particular, stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs) are the best candidates for personal cell banking (dental pulp cell bank), because they can be obtained less invasively in the natural process of individual growth. SHEDs are known to differentiate into hepatocytes. There have been several studies showing the effectiveness of SHEDs on the treatment of liver failure in animal models. They may exert their effects either by repopulation of cells in injured liver or by paracrine mechanisms due to their immune-regulatory functions. Moreover, it may be possible to use each individuals’ dental pulp cells as a future source of tailor-made differentiated hepatocytes in the context of a bioartificial liver or liver-on-a-chip to screen for drug toxicity.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells; Stem cells from human exfoliating teeth; Hepatocytes; Dental pulp cell bank; Liver diseases

Core tip: Dental pulp-origin mesenchymal stem cells have a remarkable potential for regenerative medicine in both differentiation and proliferation capacity. Dental pulp cell banks are currently under operation in several institutions in Japan, as they can be obtained easily and less invasively in the personal growth process. Recent findings that they can differentiate into hepatocytes suggest that they can be applied to refractory liver diseases as either auto or allogenic cell therapies. These hepatocytes can be used as tailor-made components for a bioartificial liver or liver-on-a-chip to screen for drug toxicities in preparation for future use.