Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells by hTERT gene transfection can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro

【摘要】：正The availability of a large amount of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) would greatly advance liver-directed cell therapies.However,MSCs have a limited life span during culture in vitro. Therefore,we tested whether human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells(hUCMSCs) could be immortalized by transduction with a lentiviral vectors carrying human telomerase catalytic subunit(hTERT) gene and investigated their differentiation potential.Our results showed the transfected hUCMSCs had over-expression of hTERT gene and up-regulated telomerase activity.The transfected hUCMSCs maintained typical morphology and MSC-specific markers,and showed vigorous proliferation activity undergoing more than 100 population doublings(PDs) to date.Moreover, they differentiated into adipocytes and osteocytes.Following incubation with hepatogenic agents, the transfected hUCMSCs differenciated into hepatocyte-like cells,and had expression of hepatic markers,such as albumin,alpha-fetoprotein,cytokeratin-18.The transfected hUCMSCs also showed no tumor transformation in nude mice.In conclusion,telomerization of hUCMSCs by hTERT overexpression extends their replicative life span without influencing differentiation potential and it offers opportunities for obtaining enough number of cells and for liver-directed therapies.