Characterization of hepatic progenitors from human fetal liver using CD34 as a hepatic progenitor marker.

AIM: To enrich putative hepatic progenitors from the developing human fetal liver using CD34 as a marker. METHODS: Aborted fetuses of 13-20 wk were used for the isolation of liver cells. The cells were labeled with anti CD34; a marker used for isolating progenitor population and the cells were sorted using magnetic cell sorting. The positive fractions of cells were assessed for specific hepatic markers. Further, these cells were cultured in vitro for long term investigation. RESULTS: Flow cytometric and immunocytochemical analysis for alphafetoprotein (AFP) showed that the majority of the enriched CD34 positive cells were positive for AFP. Furthermore, these enriched cells proliferated in the long term and maintained hepatic characteristics in in vitro culture. CONCLUSION: The study shows that aborted human fetal liver is a potential source for isolation of hepatic progenitors for clinical applications. The study also demonstrates that CD34 can be a good marker for the enrichment of progenitor populations.