Large-scale production of hepatocytes from a variety of genetic backgrounds would be beneficial for drug screening and to provide a source of cells to be used as a substitute for liver transplantation. However, fully functional primary hepatocytes remain difficult to expand in vitro, and circumventing this problem by using an alternative source of cells is desirable. Here we describe a 25-d protocol to direct the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into a near-homogenous population of hepatocyte-like cells. As cells progress through this protocol, they express genes in a chronological manner similar to that described during in vivo hepatic development. The protocol relies on culture systems devoid of serum, feeders or complex extracellular matrices, which enable molecular analyses without interference from unknown factors. This approach works efficiently with human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells and was recently used to model liver diseases in vitro.

中文翻译：

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从人类多能干细胞产生肝细胞样细胞。

从各种遗传背景大规模生产肝细胞将有利于药物筛选并提供可用作肝移植替代品的细胞来源。然而，功能齐全的原代肝细胞仍然难以在体外扩增，因此希望通过使用替代的细胞来源来规避这个问题。在这里，我们描述了一个 25 天的方案，用于指导人类多能干细胞分化成近同质的肝细胞样细胞群。随着细胞通过该协议的进展，它们以类似于体内肝脏发育过程中描述的时间顺序方式表达基因。该协议依赖于没有血清、饲养层或复杂的细胞外基质的培养系统，可以在不受未知因素干扰的情况下进行分子分析。