Abstract
Until recently, it was thought that once a cell had acquired a stable differentiated state, it could not change its phenotype. We now know this is not the case, and over the past few years a plethora of well-documented examples have been presented whereby already differentiated cells or tissue-specific stem cells have been shown to alter their phenotype to express functional characteristics of a different tissue. In this chapter, we examine evidence for these examples, comment on the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms, and speculate about possible directions of research.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Essentials of Stem Cell Biology (3rd ed.) |
Editors | R. Lanza, A. Atala |
Place of Publication | San Diego, U. S. A. |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Pages | 107-117 |
Number of pages | 11 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780124095038 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Nov 2013 |
Keywords
- Barrett's metaplasia
- Cell fusion
- Dedifferentiation
- Liver-to-pancreas
- Metaplasia
- Pancreas-to-liver
- Transdifferentiation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine