Rejuvenating liver and pancreas through celltransdifferentiation

• 来源期刊: 细胞研究（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2012,（4）
• 页码范围: 616-619
• 页数: 4页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1038/cr.2012.33

摘要

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and the cell transdifferentiation technologies are providing powerful tools to generate patient-specific cells for research and therapeutic applications.Hepatocytes and pancreatic βcells are two endoderm-derived cell types drawing much attention due to their indispensable physiological functions and strong association with various diseases.Recent advances in hepatocyte and β cell transdifferentiation have provided valuable insights into how to regenerate and restore normal functions of liver and pancreas under pathological conditions. The discovery of iPSCs in 2006 has revoked the commandment that cell differentiation and lineage specification is an irreversible process,hence fundamentally changing the way we comprehend and study cell fate determination.An ultimate goal of regenerative medicine is built on the passion to produce healthy human cells for cell therapies.