Hyaluronan-Based Grafting Strategies for Liver Stem Cell Therapy and Tracking Methods

Box 1

The engraftment challenge: candidate modulators.

Factors affecting the engraftment into the liver.

 (i) Host factors [11, 22, 25, 37]

  (a) Vasculature

  (b) Pathologic conditions (necrosis, transmissible factors, inflammation, and fibrosis)

  (c) Extracellular matrix (major driver adhesion molecule expression; remodeling factors)

 (ii) Cell source

  (a) Cell size [39]

  (b) Proliferation [11, 41, 42]

  (c) Immunogenicity [43–45]

  (d) Tolerance to toxic and ischemia [43]

  (e) Metabolic/metabolomic [46]

  (f) Adhesion molecules and associated cytoskeleton (highly inducible by environment factors/ECM) [22, 28, 47]

 (iii) Administration route: arteriosus vs. venous, hepatic artery vs. portal vein in the liver [48]

Summary of the factors that affect liver engraftment. The major factors are host characteristics, cell source, and administration route.