Vascular endothelial growth factors in progenitor cells mediated liver repair

Hepatic progenitor cells (HPC) are a bipotent cell population of the liver that may differentiate towards hepatocytes or cholangiocytes (1-3). HPC are mostly quiescent in normal livers while proliferate following liver injury. The activation of HPC results in mature hepatocytes or mature cholangiocytes or, in case of chronic damage, in the appearance of "reactive" cholangiocytes (2,3).