Hepatic trans-differentiation of pancreatic hepatocyte-progenitor cells (B-13) in a 3D high-density culture system

A rat pancreatic progenitor cell line (B-13) is of interest since it has been shown to trans-differentiate into functional hepatocyte-like cells (B-13/H) when treated with glucocorticoids. Since the use of primary hepatocytes for clinical application in liver support systems is problematic due to their limited availability, B-13 cells are under investigation within the EU project d-LIVER. Further, there is a need for a culturing system, which enables sufficient cell numbers to be generated in a closed environment to support liver disease patients. Our group used an experimental bioreactor system offering dynamic…