Hepatectomised patient sera promote hepatocyte differentiation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells.

Background: Human induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be differentiated into hepatocyte-like cells, could provide a source for liver regeneration and bio-artificial liver devices. However, the functionality of hepatocyte-like cells is significantly lower than that of primary hepatocytes.
Aims: To investigate whether serum from patients undergoing hepatectomy might promote differentiation from human induced pluripotent stem cells to hepatocyte-like cells.
Methods: Serum from patients undergoing hepatectomy (acquired pre-hepatectomy and 3 hours, 1 day and 3 days post-hepatectomy) was used to replace foetal bovine serum when differentiating human induced pluripotent stem cells into hepatocyte-like cells. Properties of hepatocyte-like cells were assessed and compared with cells cultured in foetal bovine serum.
Results: The differentiation efficiency and functionality of hepatocyte-like cells cultured in human serum 3 hours and 1 day post-hepatectomy were superior to those cultured in foetal bovine serum and human serum pre-hepatectomy. Human serum 3 days post-hepatectomy had an equal effect to that of human serum pre-hepatectomy. Some cytochrome P450 isozyme transcript levels of hepatocyte-like cells cultured in human serum were higher than those cultured in foetal bovine serum.
Conclusion: Human serum, particularly that acquired relatively soon after hepatectomy, can enhance the differentiation efficiency and functionality of hepatocyte-like cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.
(Copyright © 2014 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)