Stem cell research has significantly evolved over the last few years, allowing the differentiation of pluripotent cells into almost any kind of lineage possible. Studies that focus on the liver have considerably taken a leap into this novel technology, and hepatocyte-like cells are being generated that are close to resembling actual hepatocytes both genotypically and phenotypically. The potential of this extends from disease models to bioengineering, and even also innovative therapies for end-stage liver disease. Nonetheless, too few attention has been given to the non-parenchymal cells which are also fundamental for normal liver function. This includes cholangiocytes, the cells of the biliary epithelium, without whose role in bile modification and metabolism would impair hepatocyte survival. Such can be observed in diseases that target them, so called cholangiopathies, for which there is much yet to study so as to improve therapeutical options. Protocols that describe the induction of human induced pluripotent stem cells into cholangiocytes are scarce, although progress is being achieved in this area as well. In order to give the current view on this emerging research field, and in hopes to motivate further advances, we present here a review on the known differentiation strategies with sight into future applications.

在过去的几年中，干细胞研究取得了重大进展，使多能细胞分化成几乎任何可能的谱系。专注于肝脏的研究已经大大地跨入了这项新技术，并且正在生成类似于肝细胞的细胞，无论是从基因型还是从表型上都类似于实际的肝细胞。这种方法的潜力从疾病模型扩展到生物工程，甚至还可以用于晚期肝病的创新疗法。尽管如此，对非实质细胞的关注却很少，非实质细胞也是正常肝功能的基础。这包括胆管上皮细胞胆管细胞，如果胆管细胞不参与胆汁的修饰和代谢，则会损害肝细胞的存活。在针对他们的疾病中可以观察到这种情况，所谓的胆管病，还有许多研究尚待完善，以改善治疗选择。尽管在该领域也取得了进展，但描述将人类诱导的多能干细胞诱导成胆管细胞的方案却很少。为了给出有关这一新兴研究领域的最新观点，并希望推动进一步的发展，我们在此对已知的分化策略进行综述，并展望未来的应用。