Patent ID: 7473555
Filing Date: 2009-01-06
Classification: C12N

Abstract:
1. A process for differentiating primate pluripotent stem (pPS) cells into mature hepatocytes in at least three discrete steps, comprising: a) culturing undifferentiated pPS cells under conditions which cause differentiation of the cells into cells having characteristics of fetal endoderm; b) culturing the cells from a) under conditions which cause differentiation of fetal endoderm cells into cells having characteristics of hepatocyte progenitor cells; c) culturing the cells from b) under conditions which cause differentiation of hepatocyte progenitor cells into cells having characteristics of mature hepatocytes; thereby producing a cell population that has at least five of the following characteristics: antibody-detectable expression of α1-antitrypsin (AAT); antibody-detectable expression of albumin; absence of antibody-detectable expression of a-fetoprotein; RT-PCR detectable expression of asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGR); evidence of glycogen storage; evidence of cytochrome p450 enzyme activity; evidence of glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme activity; and the morphological features of hepatocytes.