Treatment of Nonalbumin Rats by Transplantation of Immortalized Hepatocytes Using Artificial Human Chromosome

The shortage of organ donors has impeded the development of human hepatocyte transplantation. Immortalized hepatocytes, however, could provide an unlimited supply of transplantable cells. To determine whether immortalized hepatocytes could provide global metabolic support in end-stage liver disease, rat hepatocyte clones were developed by transduction with the gene encoding the simian virus 40 T antigen (SVLT) using the new technique of human artificial mini chromosome (HAC). Immortalized rat hepatocyte clones were developed by transduction with the gene encoding the SV40 using HAC. Many clones were obtained using this technique. From comparison of the properties of all these clones using the normal hepatocytes and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the characteristics of the cell clones (at least partially characterized, and assayed for albumin, glucose-6-phosphate and dipeptidyl peptidase-4, γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, SVLT and β-actin expression by RT-PCR) showed no differences other than the immortalization. We compared the albumin bands of the first-day (0-day) and 30-day cells by RT-PCR, showing conditions to be stable for at least 1 month. Three experimental animal model groups were used for albumin analysis: nonalbumin rats with 2/3 hepatectomy only (R-NARs; n = 4); R-NARs with intrasplenic transplantation of 3 × 10⁷ primary hepatocytes (pHTx; n = 4); and R-NARs with intrasplenic transplantation of 3 × 10⁷ immortalized hepatocytes (iHTx; n = 4). All HTx groups produced albumin, but the immortalized hepatocyte group did not generate significantly elevated albumin levels compared with primary hepatocytes. The results presented herein have demonstrated an initial step toward the development of immortalized hepatocytes for transplantable cells or artificial organs using HAC technology.