This patent teaches that CXC chemokines are potent stimulators of hepatic stem cells and hepatic regeneration. Chemokines covered include MIP-2, ENA-78 and IL-8.
View this patent on the USPTO website.
The adult liver has 2 types of stem cells, these are oval cells and small hepatocytes (some call them “small hepatic like progenitor cells”).
Oval cells are called bipotential hepatic progenitors (can become hepatocytes or biliary epithelial cells), they are induced by hepatic damage during conditions which do not allow mitosis of mature hepatocytes. Some say that oval cells can differentiate into small hepatic like progenitor cells.
Oval cells express stem cell antigen, c-kit, flt-3, CD34, and Thy-1 (CD90).
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joseph said...
Do the CXC chemokines actually call in bone marrow cells to fix up liver, or do they work endogenously on hepatocytes?
I do not understand whether the oval cell itself is a stem cell, or whether there are other stem cells that give rise to oval cells in the liver?
Also, is it true that Oval cells have CD34 on them, just like bone marrow stem cells?