OBJECTIVETo identify the genes playing a functional role in differentiation of human hepatic progenitor cells to hepatocytes by comparing the gene expression and functional profiles of the two cell types.

METHODSmRNA was isolated from human fetal hepatic progenitor cells (hFHPCs) and functional hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) that had differentiated from hFHPCs. Global gene expression profiling was performed on triplicate samples of each cell type. The differential gene expression was analyzed using volcano plot filtering and functional annotation was performed using the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID).

RESULTSCompared to the hFHPCs, the HLCs had a total of 1878 significantly up-regulated genes and 1441 significantly down-regulated genes. The up-regulated genes included functional groups related to the hexose metabolic process, positive regulation of apoptosis, angiogenesis, regulation of cell motion, and protein amino acid phosphorylation. The down-regulated genes included functional groups related to cell cycle, DNA metabolic process, cytoskeleton organization, regulation cell cycle, and chromosome segregation.

CONCLUSIONDifferentiation of HLCs from hFHPCs may involve increased expression of genes related to hepatocyte function and decreased expression of genes related to cell cycle regulation.