肝干细胞是指能够参与肝细胞再生和损伤修复的同时具有干细胞特质的细胞的总称。当肝脏或肝功能受到严重损伤，肝干细胞被激活并增殖，分化为肝实质细胞和胆管上皮细胞，使得肝功能得以重建。根据起源不同,肝干细胞可分为肝源性肝干细胞和非肝源性肝干细胞。肝干细胞是具有重要临床价值的细胞，在自我更新、高度增殖和多向分化潜能方面都具有巨大的潜能。近年有实验表明,肝干细胞亦可能是肝肿瘤细胞的起源,它与肝肿瘤的发生发展密切相关,提示肝干细胞的研究对于了解肝损伤修复机理,肝肿瘤的发生发展机制具有重要意义。本文对肝干细胞的分类、来源及特性，肝干细胞的表面标志的主要差别,肝干细胞的活化、分离和培养，肝干细胞分化增殖的调节，肝干细胞与原发性肝癌的关系以及肝干细胞的发展前景的相关研究进展作一阐述。

Liver stem cells are a class of cells, which possess the general

characteristics of the stem cells and participate in the regeneration of liver cells and

the recovery of liver injury. When the liver is seriously injuried or liver function is

severely impaired, the liver stem cells are activated, proliferated, and differentiated

into either hepatocytes or biliary epithelial cells, allowing liver function to be

restored. According to different origins, the liver stem cells can be divided into liver-

derived liver stem cells and non-liver-derived liver stem cells. Liver stem cells possess

promising clinical value in the self-renewal, high proliferation, and multilineage

differentiation potential. Recent studies have shown that the liver stem cells may also be

the origin of liver tumor cells, suggesting that the progress in the studies on liver stem

is critical for the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the liver injury and

repair, liver tumor genesis and development. The present review summarized the recent

progress on liver stem cells related to its biological properties (including the

classification, sources, surface molecular, differentiation and proliferation, et al.) and

the possible correlation with the primary liver cancer.

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