Novel Management of Acute or Secondary Biliary Liver Conditions Using Hepatically Differentiated Human Dental Pulp Cells

The current definitive treatment for acute or chronic liver condition, that is, cirrhosis, is liver transplantation from a limited number of donors, which might cause complications after donation. Hence, bone marrow stem cell transplantation has been developed, but the risk of carcinogenesis remains. We have recently developed a protocol for hepatic differentiation of CD117+ stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED). In the present study, we examine whether SHED hepatically differentiated (hd) in vitro could be used to treat acute liver injury (ALI) and secondary biliary cirrhosis. The CD117+ cell fraction was magnetically separated from SHED and then differentiated into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro. The cells were transplanted into rats with either ALI or induced secondary biliary cirrhosis. Engraftment of human liver cells was determined immunohistochemically and by in situ hybridization. Recovery of liver function was examined by means of histochemical and serological tests. Livers of t...