Pluripotent Stem Cells and Reprogramming

Human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst and were first isolated in 1998, adapting previously established protocols for deriving mouse ESCs. As pluripotent stem cells, hESCs and iPSCs can be expanded and reproducibly differentiated to a hepatic phenotype. This chapter discusses how pluripotent stem cells have been used to address liver disease and the potential applications of this model in future work. Stellate and liver endothelial cells can also be generated from pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes have also been used in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Transplantation of primary hepatocytes has been shown to improve outcome associated with a number of liver diseases; however, the large number of cells required to achieve efficacy is prohibitive as primary human hepatocytes are hard to source and do not sufficiently proliferate in culture.