Identification of mechanisms that induce maturation of murine foetal liver progenitor cells

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19368
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Gastroenterology
• Research Institution: Tokai University
• Principal Investigator: ANZAI Kazuya 東海大学, 医学部, 助教 (20724941)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 胆管前駆細胞 / 肝前駆細胞 / 分化誘導

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we demonstrated that cholangiocytic progenitor cells could be induced from foetal LPCs by culturing them on gelatine-coated dishes for 7days. But this induction was significantly suppressed by addition of HGF or OSM, these are maturation factor for hepatic linage, to the pre-culture conditions. Because these cholangiocitic progenitor cells show similar characteristics to neonatal LPCs, that are matured in vivo for 7 days, in vitro inductions in 2D culture are equivalent to in vivo development. Moreover, our culture system could be useful for analysis of the intrinsic changes of foetal LPCs towards cholangiocytic differentiation. We demonstrated that the overexpression of Grhl2 lead to the improvement of cholangiocytic cyst formation.

Free Research Field

肝臓