[Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 (HNF4) in epithelial development and carcinogenesis].

Hepatocyte nuclear factors play the key role in the establishing and maintenance of hepatocyte differentiation. They not only control the expression of functional hepatic genes but are also involved in the regulation of proliferation, morphogenesis and detoxication in the liver. In this review we consider the main biological properties of the central regulator of hepatic differentiation HNF4alpha, patterns of its expression in embryogenesis and different adult tissues, mechanisms of regulation of its activity and transcriptional properties, and the essential target genes.