Generation of functional liver organoids on combining hepatocytes and cholangiocytes with hepatobiliary connections ex vivo.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Tanimizu N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8185093 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundLiver disease imposes a significant medical burden that persists due to a shortage of liver donors and an incomplete understanding of liver disease progression. Hepatobiliary organoids (HBOs) could provide an in vitro mini-organ model to increase the understanding of the liver and may benefit the development of regenerative medicine.MethodsIn this study, we aimed to establish HBOs with bile duct (BD) structures and mature hepatocytes (MHs) using human chemically induced liver progenitor cells (hCLiPs). hCLiPs were induced in mature cryo-hepatocytes using a small-molecule cocktail of TGF-β inhibitor (A-83-01, A), GSK3 inhibitor (CHIR99021, C), and 10% FBS (FAC). HBOs were then formed by seeding hCLiPs into ultralow attachment plates and culturing them with a combination of small molecules of Rock-inhibitor (Y-27632) and AC (YAC).ResultsThese HBOs exhibited bile canaliculi of MHs connected to BD structures, mimicking bile secretion and transportation functions of the liver. The organoids showed gene expression patterns consistent with both MHs and BD structures, and functional assays confirmed their ability to transport the bile analogs of rhodamine-123 and CLF. Functional patient-specific HBOs were also successfully created from hCLiPs sourced from cirrhotic liver tissues.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the potential of human HBOs as an efficient model for studying hepatobiliary diseases, drug discovery, and personalized medicine.
| S-EPMC11346037 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Several three-dimensional cell culture systems are currently available to create liver organoids. In gneral, these systems display better physiologic and metabolic aspects of intact liver tissue compared with two-dimensional culture systems. However, none reliably mimic human liver development, including parallel formation of hepatocyte and cholangiocyte anatomical structures. Here, we show that human fetal liver progenitor cells self-assembled inside acellular liver extracellular matrix scaffolds to form three-dimensional liver organoids that recapitulated several aspects of hepatobiliary organogenesis and resulted in concomitant formation of progressively more differentiated hepatocytes and bile duct structures. The duct morphogenesis process was interrupted by inhibiting Notch signaling, in an attempt to create a liver developmental disease model with a similar phenotype to Alagille syndrome. Conclusion: In the current study, we created an in vitro model of human liver development and disease, physiology, and metabolism, supported by liver extracellular matrix substrata; we envision that it will be used in the future to study mechanisms of hepatic and biliary development and for disease modeling and drug screening. (Hepatology 2018;67:750-761).
| S-EPMC5825235 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Liver organoids generated with single or multiple cell types have been used to investigate liver fibrosis development, toxicity, pathogenesis, and drug screening. However, organoid generation is limited by the availability of cells isolated from primary tissues or differentiated from various stem cells. To ensure cell availability for organoid formation, we investigated whether liver organoids could be generated with cell-line-based Huh-7 hepatocellular carcinoma cells, macrophages differentiated from THP-1 monocytes, and LX-2 hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and primary liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs). In liver organoids, hepatocyte-, LSEC-, macrophage-, and HSC-related gene expression increased relative to that in two-dimensional (2D)-cultured Huh-7/LSEC/THP-1/LX-2 cells without Matrigel. Thioacetamide (TAA) increased α-smooth muscle actin expression in liver organoids but not in 2D-cultured cells, whereas in TAA-treated organoids, the expression of hepatic and LSEC markers decreased and that of macrophage and HSC markers increased. TAA-induced fibrosis was suppressed by treatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine or tumor-necrosis-factor-stimulated gene 6 protein. The results showed that liver toxicants could induce fibrotic and inflammatory responses in liver organoids comprising Huh-7/LSEC/macrophages/LX-2 cells, resulting in fibrotic liver organoids. We propose that cell-line-based organoids can be used for disease modeling and drug screening to improve liver fibrosis treatment.
| S-EPMC10647544 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Liver regeneration after injury is normally mediated by proliferation of hepatocytes, although recent studies have suggested biliary epithelial cells (BECs) can differentiate into hepatocytes during severe liver injury when hepatocyte proliferation is impaired. We investigated the effect of hepatocyte-specific β-catenin deletion in recovery from severe liver injury and BEC-to-hepatocyte differentiation. To induce liver injury, we administered choline-deficient, ethionine-supplemented (CDE) diet to three different mouse models, the first being mice with deletion of β-catenin in both BECs and hepatocytes (Albumin-Cre; Ctnnb1flox/flox mice). In our second model, we performed hepatocyte lineage tracing by injecting Ctnnb1flox/flox ; Rosa-stopflox/flox -EYFP mice with the adeno-associated virus serotype 8 encoding Cre recombinase under the control of the thyroid binding globulin promoter, a virus that infects only hepatocytes. Finally, we performed BEC lineage tracing via Krt19-CreERT ; Rosa-stopflox/flox -tdTomato mice. To observe BEC-to-hepatocyte differentiation, mice were allowed to recover on normal diet following CDE diet-induced liver injury. Livers were collected from all mice and analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence. We show that mice with lack of β-catenin in hepatocytes placed on the CDE diet develop severe liver injury with impaired hepatocyte proliferation, creating a stimulus for BECs to differentiate into hepatocytes. In particular, we use both hepatocyte and BEC lineage tracing to show that BECs differentiate into hepatocytes, which go on to repopulate the liver during long-term recovery. Conclusion: β-catenin is important for liver regeneration after CDE diet-induced liver injury, and BEC-derived hepatocytes can permanently incorporate into the liver parenchyma to mediate liver regeneration.
| S-EPMC6351199 | biostudies-literature
Project description:UnlabelledBACKGROUND& AIMS: Embryonic biliary precursor cells form a periportal sheet called the ductal plate, which is progressively remodeled to generate intrahepatic bile ducts. A limited number of ductal plate cells participate in duct formation; those not involved in duct development are believed to involute by apoptosis. Moreover, cells that express the SRY-related HMG box transcription factor 9 (SOX9), which include the embryonic ductal plate cells, were proposed to continuously supply the liver with hepatic cells. We investigated the role of the ductal plate in hepatic morphogenesis.MethodsApoptosis and proliferation were investigated by immunostaining of mouse and human fetal liver tissue. The postnatal progeny of SOX9-expressing ductal plate cells was analyzed after genetic labeling, at the ductal plate stage, by Cre-mediated recombination of a ROSA26RYFP reporter allele. Inducible Cre expression was induced by SOX9 regulatory regions, inserted in a bacterial artificial chromosome. Livers were studied from mice under normal conditions and during diet-induced regeneration.ResultsDuctal plate cells did not undergo apoptosis and showed limited proliferation. They generated cholangiocytes lining interlobular bile ducts, bile ductules, and canals of Hering, as well as periportal hepatocytes. Oval cells that appeared during regeneration also derived from the ductal plate. We did not find that liver homeostasis required a continuous supply of cells from SOX9-expressing progenitors.ConclusionsThe ductal plate gives rise to cholangiocytes lining the intrahepatic bile ducts, including its most proximal segments. It also generates periportal hepatocytes and adult hepatic progenitor cells.
| S-EPMC3494970 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ex vivo engineered three-dimensional organotypic cultures have enabled the real-time study and control of biological functioning of mammalian tissues. Organs of broad interest where its architectural, cellular, and molecular complexity has prevented progress in ex vivo engineering are the secondary immune organs. Ex vivo immune organs can enable mechanistic understanding of the immune system and more importantly, accelerate the translation of immunotherapies as well as a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that lead to their malignant transformation into a variety of B and T cell malignancies. However, till date, no modular ex vivo immune organ has been developed with an ability to control the rate of immune reaction through tunable design parameter. Here we describe a B cell follicle organoid made of nanocomposite biomaterials, which recapitulates the anatomical microenvironment of a lymphoid tissue that provides the basis to induce an accelerated germinal center (GC) reaction by continuously providing extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell-cell signals to naïve B cells. Compared to existing co-cultures, immune organoids provide a control over primary B cell proliferation with ?100-fold higher and rapid differentiation to the GC phenotype with robust antibody class switching.
| S-EPMC4490011 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage renal disease (ESRD) are increasingly frequent and devastating conditions that have driven a surge in the need for kidney transplantation. A stark shortage of organs has fueled interest in generating viable replacement tissues ex vivo for transplantation. One promising approach has been self-organizing organoids, which mimic developmental processes and yield multicellular, organ-specific tissues. However, a recognized roadblock to this approach is that many organoid cell types fail to acquire full maturity and function. Here, we comprehensively assess the vasculature in two distinct kidney organoid models as well as in explanted embryonic kidneys. Using a variety of methods, we show that while organoids can develop a wide range of kidney cell types, as previously shown, endothelial cells (ECs) initially arise but then rapidly regress over time in culture. Vasculature of cultured embryonic kidneys exhibit similar regression. By contrast, engraftment of kidney organoids under the kidney capsule results in the formation of a stable, perfused vasculature that integrates into the organoid. This work demonstrates that kidney organoids offer a promising model system to define the complexities of vascular-nephron interactions, but the establishment and maintenance of a vascular network present unique challenges when grown ex vivo.
| S-EPMC8382085 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) are an essential tool for modeling drug metabolism and liver disease. However, variable plating efficiencies, short lifespan in culture, and resistance to genetic manipulation have limited their use. Here, we show that the pyrrolizidine alkaloid retrorsine improves PHH repopulation of chimeric mice on average 10-fold and rescues the ability of even poorly plateable donor hepatocytes to provide cells for subsequent ex vivo cultures. These mouse-passaged (mp) PHH cultures overcome the marked donor-to-donor variability of cryopreserved PHH and remain functional for months as demonstrated by metabolic assays and infection with hepatitis B virus and Plasmodium falciparum mpPHH can be efficiently genetically modified in culture, mobilized, and then recultured as spheroids or retransplanted to create highly humanized mice that carry a genetically altered hepatocyte graft. Together, these advances provide flexible tools for the study of human liver disease and evaluation of hepatocyte-targeted gene therapy approaches.
| S-EPMC6983380 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gene delivery to primary hepatocytes is an important tool for a number of applications including the study of liver cell biology and pathology, drug screening, and gene therapy. Robust transfection of primary hepatocytes, however, is significantly more difficult to achieve than in cell lines or readily dividing primary cells. In this report, we investigated in vitro gene delivery to both primary rat hepatocytes and Huh7.5.1 cells (a hepatoma cell line) using a number of viral and non-viral methods, including Lipofectamine 2000, FuGene HD, Nucleofection, Magnetofection, and lentiviruses. Our results showed that Lipofectamine 2000 is the most efficient reagent for green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene delivery to primary rat hepatocytes (33.3 ± 1.8% transfection efficiency) with minimal adverse effect on several hepatic functions, such as urea and albumin secretion. The lentiviral vectors used in this study exhibited undetectable gene delivery to primary rat hepatocytes but significant delivery to Huh7.5.1 cells (>80% transfection efficiency). In addition, we demonstrated lentiviral-based and spatially defined delivery of the GFP gene to Huh7.5.1 cells for use in biological microelectromechanical systems.
| S-EPMC3901163 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Ex vivo gene manipulation in human hepatocytes is a promising therapeutic strategy in the treatment of inherited liver diseases. However, a major limitation is the lack of a highly efficient and safe genetic manipulation system for transplantable primary human hepatocytes (PHHs). Here, we reported that proliferating human hepatocytes (ProliHHs) cultured in vitro showed high susceptibility to lentivirus-mediated genetic modification and maintained cellular phenotypes after lentiviral infection. Human factor VIII expression was introduced through F8-Lentivirus-mediated transduction of ProliHHs followed by xenotransplantation into immunocompromised haemophilia A mice. We demonstrated that these F8-modified ProliHHs could effectively repopulate the mouse liver, resulting in therapeutic benefits in mouse models. Furthermore, no genotoxicity was detected in F8-modified ProliHHs using lentiviral integration site analysis. Thus, this study demonstrated, for the first time, the feasibility and safety of lentiviral modification in ProliHHs to induce the expression of coagulation factor VIII in the treatment of haemophilia A.
| S-EPMC10212703 | biostudies-literature