In vitro expansion of cirrhosis derived liver epithelial cells reveals progenitor-like properties

Our goal is to in vitro expand mouse hepatocytes and human cirrhotic liver hepatocytes. Under the extreme culture condition, mouse hepatocytes proliferated and de-diffrentiated into progenitor cell like cells, moreover, the progenitor like cells could re-differentiate into hepatocytes in vivo. On the other hand, huamn cirrhotic liver cells could also expand and retain the probability of differentiate in vivo. Overall design: To find the relationship between hepatocytes and hepatocyte derived progenitor cells in vitro. We used TGF-beta, BMP and Hedgehog inhibitors to expand bothe mouse normal hepatocytes and human cirrhotic liver epithelial cells.