Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of each cell in therapeutic applications.

Cell type	Advantage	Disadvantage	Ref.
Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)	Anti-fibrotic and pro-regenerative properties	Complicated isolation process, unclear clinical efficacy	(24, 25)
Hematopoietic stem cells	Pluripotency Potential to self-renew	Requires bone marrow aspiration Linage derivation (such as derivation to macrophages)	(26, 27)
Hepatoblasts (Fetal liver Stem Cells)	1. these cells are bipotent, being able to give rise to both hepatocytes and bile duct cells	Rarity of hepatoblasts 0.1% of fetal liver mass Presence of oval cells in adult liver (make isolation an expansion difficult)	(28–30)
Hepatocytes	Key metabolic and synthetic cells of the liver Suitable for replacing enzyme deficiency Suitable for replacing metabolic disorders	Donor shortages Limited engraftment and proliferation Infection risk	(31, 32)
Immune cells	Relatively easy to isolate and culture	Potential ability to induce inflammatory storms	(33)
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS)	an unlimited source to produce hepatocytes-like cells In vitro Lack of potential issues of allogenic rejection	Ethical concern Malignancy potential Low production efficiency	(34, 35)
MSCs	Relatively easy to isolate and culture pluripotency immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties Anti-fibrotic function Extracellular signaling Allograft potential Diffreniatonal ability	Pro-tumor potential Risks of isolation procedures Malignancy potential Risk of undesired migration to other organs such as lung and kidney	(36–38)