Establishment of a cell culture platform for human liver organoids and its application for lipid metabolism research

Authors:
Ayane Kuboyama-Sasaki , Yu Takahashi , Chen Xia , Kahori Hiro , Tsuyoshi Kobayashi , Hideki Ohdan , Makoto Shimizu , Yoshio Yamauchi , Hiroshi Kiyono , Ryuichiro Sato 
In:
Source: Biotechnology Journal
Publication Date: (2024)
Issue: 19: 1
Research Area:
Dermatology/Tissue Engineering
Gastroenterology
Stem Cells
Toxicology
Drug Discovery
Cells used in publication:
Hep G2
Species: human
Tissue Origin: liver
HuH7
Species: human
Tissue Origin: liver
Hepatocyte, human
Species: human
Tissue Origin: liver
Experiment

PHHs were purchased from Lonza and used according to the man-ufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, cells were thawed in a single human thawing medium (Lonza) and either harvested for RNA extractionor seeded on a collagen-coated 6-well plate with hepatocyte plating medium (Lonza). After 1 h of plating, the medium was replaced withfresh medium and the cells were harvested 4 h after plating.All cultures were performed in a 5% CO 2 incubator at 37?C.

Abstract

Human liver organoids (HLOs) are reliable tools to represent physiological human liver biology. However, their use is limited especially in basic sciences. One of the reasons for this would be the insufficient systematic methodology to handle HLOs, including culture system, functional assessment, and gene transduction. Here, we generated and characterized mouse L cells stably and simultaneously overexpressing R-spondin1, hepatocyte growth factor, fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 7, and FGF10 via lentiviral transduction. The conditioned medium of the cells contributed to HLO growth as a replacement of commercially available recombinant proteins, which leads to a significant reduction of their culture cost. Proliferative and maturation phases of the cells were controlled by switching the medium to facilitate the evaluation of hepatocyte function, including insulin responsiveness and intracellular lipid accumulation. Gene expression analysis revealed that HLOs highly expressed genes involved in lipid metabolism. Importantly, HLOs secreted physiologically matured very low-density lipoprotein, which is rarely observed in mice and in established cell lines. Efficient gene transduction into HLOs was achieved via a transient 2-dimensional culture during viral infection. This study provides an invaluable platform for utilizing HLOs in various research fields, such as molecular biology, pharmacology, toxicology, and regenerative medicine.