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Sci. STKE, 27 November 2007
Vol. 2007, Issue 414, p. pe66
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.4142007pe66]

PERSPECTIVES

Regeneration in Liver and Pancreas: Time to Cut the Umbilical Cord?

Yuval Dor1 and Ben Z. Stanger2*

1Department of Cellular Biochemistry and Human Genetics, Hebrew University–Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
2Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Abstract: Organisms that are capable of robust tissue regeneration, including the urodele amphibians, use mechanisms that recapitulate embryonic development to regrow organs. Although mammals are not so adept at regeneration, several adult tissues exhibit partial or complete regrowth after injury. An ability to influence growth in mammalian tissues has become more imperative with the emergence of "regenerative medicine" as a discipline. For this field to fulfill its promise of providing functional tissues for clinical use, a more detailed picture will be required of how adult human tissues maintain mass during normal homeostasis and after injury. Studies of developing and regenerating liver and pancreas now suggest that mammals use distinct programs to regulate tissue growth during embryogenesis and adulthood.

*Corresponding author. E-mail, bstanger{at}mail.med.upenn.edu

Citation: Y. Dor, B. Z. Stanger, Regeneration in Liver and Pancreas: Time to Cut the Umbilical Cord? Sci. STKE 2007, pe66 (2007).

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