Stem Cells in Extrahepatic Bile Ducts: Current Research Status and Potential Applications
WANG Zijun, LIU Qinggui, WANG Minjun, HU Yiping, CHEN Fei*
EHBDs (extrahepatic bile ducts) are parts of liver bile duct system, which include gallbladder, common bile duct, etc. Recently, a group of cells with stemness characteristics in EHBDs are identified. These cells could be expanded and grow into organoids in vitro. Also, they could differentiate into functional hepatocytes, cholangiocytes or pancreatic β-like cells, under the certain conditional medium. The differentiated functional cells could restore the liver function, repair the injured bile duct, and even secrete insulin when they were transplanted respectively into the model mice with liver damage, bile duct defect and pancreas damage. This review describes developmental progress of EHBDs, elucidates distribution and characteristics of EHBDs stem cells, and introduces clinical applications in treatments of diseases by EHBDs stem cells. These could inspire thoughts and provide references for further study of EHBDs.
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