Hepatocyte growth factor induces differentiation of adult rat bone marrow cells into a hepatocyte lineage in vitro

Bone marrow (BM) cells originally include alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)- and c-Me t [a receptor for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)]-expressing cells. In vitr o treatment of BM cells with HGF induced albumin-expressing hepatocyte-like cells. Furthermore, those hepatocyte-like cells expressed cytokeratins 8 a nd 18, which are typically expressed in normal adult hepatocytes. These fin dings demonstrate that BM cells include AFP-expressing hepatic progenitor c ells that can be differentiated into hepatocytes by HGF in culture, indicat ing that such cultures are useful resources for cell transplantation therap y for liver diseases. (C) 2000 Academic Press.