Characterization of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Hepatocytes with Mature Features and Potential for Modeling Metabolic DiseasesShow others and affiliations
2020 (English)In: International Journal of Molecular Sciences, ISSN 1661-6596, E-ISSN 1422-0067, Vol. 21, no 2, article id E469Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
There is a strong anticipated future for human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes (hiPS-HEP), but so far, their use has been limited due to insufficient functionality. We investigated the potential of hiPS-HEP as an in vitro model for metabolic diseases by combining transcriptomics with multiple functional assays. The transcriptomics analysis revealed that 86% of the genes were expressed at similar levels in hiPS-HEP as in human primary hepatocytes (hphep). Adult characteristics of the hiPS-HEP were confirmed by the presence of important hepatocyte features, e.g., Albumin secretion and expression of major drug metabolizing genes. Normal energy metabolism is crucial for modeling metabolic diseases, and both transcriptomics data and functional assays showed that hiPS-HEP were similar to hphep regarding uptake of glucose, low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and fatty acids. Importantly, the inflammatory state of the hiPS-HEP was low under standard conditions, but in response to lipid accumulation and ER stress the inflammation marker tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) was upregulated. Furthermore, hiPS-HEP could be co-cultured with primary hepatic stellate cells both in 2D and in 3D spheroids, paving the way for using these co-cultures for modeling non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Taken together, hiPS-HEP have the potential to serve as an in vitro model for metabolic diseases. Furthermore, differently expressed genes identified in this study can serve as targets for future improvements of the hiPS-HEP.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2020. Vol. 21, no 2, article id E469
Keywords [en]
characterization, human induced pluripotent stem cells, human stem cell-derived hepatocytes, in vitro, maturation, metabolic diseases, transcriptomics
National Category
Cell Biology
Research subject
Bioinformatics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:his:diva-18158DOI: 10.3390/ijms21020469ISI: 000515380000099PubMedID: 31940797Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85077941486OAI: oai:DiVA.org:his-18158DiVA, id: diva2:1387986
Note
CC BY 4.0
2020-01-232020-01-232022-02-10Bibliographically approved