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Conversion of Terminally Committed Hepatocytes to Culturable Bipotent Progenitor Cells with Regenerative Capacity

A challenge for advancing approaches to liver regeneration is loss of functional differentiation capacity when hepatocyte progenitors are maintained in culture. Recent lineage-tracing studies have shown that mature hepatocytes (MHs) convert to an immature state during chronic liver injury, and we investigated whether this conversion could be recapitulated in vitro and whether such converted cells could represent a source of expandable hepatocytes. We report that a cocktail of small molecules, Y-27632, A-83-01, and CHIR99021, can convert rat and mouse MHs in vitro into proliferative bipotent cells, which we term chemically induced liver progenitors (CLiPs). CLiPs can differentiate into both MHs and biliary epithelial cells that can form functional ductal structures. CLiPs in long-term culture did not lose their proliferative capacity or their hepatic differentiation ability, and rat CLiPs were shown to extensively repopulate chronically injured liver tissue. Thus, our study advances the goals of liver regenerative medicine.

Related Products

Cat.No. Product Name Information
S2924 Laduviglusib (CHIR-99021) HCl Laduviglusib (CHIR-99021; CT99021) HCl is hydrochloride of CHIR-99021, which is a GSK-3α/β inhibitor with IC50 of 10 nM/6.7 nM; CHIR-99021 shows greater than 500-fold selectivity for GSK-3 versus its closest homologs Cdc2 and ERK2. CHIR-99021 is a potent pharmacological activators of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway. CHIR-99021 significantly rescues light-induced autophagy and augments GR, RORα and autophagy-related proteins.

Related Targets

GSK-3