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Lu Z, Priya Rajan SA, Song Q, Zhao Y, Wan M, Aleman J, Skardal A, Bishop C, Atala A, Lu B. 3D scaffold-free microlivers with drug metabolic function generated by lineage-reprogrammed hepatocytes from human fibroblasts. Biomaterials 2021; 269:120668. [PMID: 33461059 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Generating microliver tissues to recapitulate hepatic function is of increasing importance in tissue engineering and drug screening. But the limited availability of primary hepatocytes and the marked loss of phenotype hinders their application. Human induced hepatocytes (hiHeps) generated by direct reprogramming can address the shortage of primary hepatocytes to make personalized drug prediction possible. Here, we simplify preparation of reprogramming reagents by expressing six transcriptional factors (HNF4A, FOXA2, FOXA3, ATF5, PROX1, and HNF1) from two lentiviral vectors, each expressing three factors. Transducing human fetal and adult fibroblasts with low vector dosage generated human induced hepatocyte-like cells (hiHeps) displaying characteristics of mature hepatocytes and capable of drug metabolism. To mimic the physiologic liver microenvironment and improve hepatocyte function, we prepared 3D scaffold-free microliver spheroids using hiHeps and human liver nonparenchymal cells through self-assembly without exogenous scaffolds. We then introduced the microliver spheroids into a two-organ microfluidic system to examine interactions between hepatocytes and tumor cells. The hiHeps-derived spheroids metabolized the prodrug capecitabine into the active metabolite 5-fluorouracil and induced toxicity in downstream tumor spheroids. Our results demonstrate that hiHeps can be used to make microliver spheroids and combined with a microfluidic system for drug evaluation. Our work could make it possible to use patient-specific hepatocyte-like cells to predict drug efficacy and side effects in various organs from the same patient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuyan Lu
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Shiny Amala Priya Rajan
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Qianqian Song
- Department of Cancer Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA
| | - Yu Zhao
- Jiangsu Healthy Life Innovation Medical Technology Co, Ltd., Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China
| | - Meimei Wan
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Julio Aleman
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Aleksander Skardal
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Colin Bishop
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
| | - Anthony Atala
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
| | - Baisong Lu
- Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
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Wu H, Du C, Yang F, Zheng X, Qiu D, Zhang Q, Chen W, Xu Y. Generation of hepatocyte-like cells from human urinary epithelial cells and the role of autophagy during direct reprogramming. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2020; 527:723-729. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.03.119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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iPS Cells-The Triumphs and Tribulations. Dent J (Basel) 2016; 4:dj4020019. [PMID: 29563461 PMCID: PMC5851259 DOI: 10.3390/dj4020019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2016] [Revised: 05/18/2016] [Accepted: 05/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The year 2006 will be remembered monumentally in science, particularly in the stem cell biology field, for the first instance of generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from mouse embryonic/adult fibroblasts being reported by Takahashi and Yamanaka. A year later, human iPSCs (hiPSCs) were generated from adult human skin fibroblasts by using quartet of genes, Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. This revolutionary technology won Yamanaka Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2012. Like human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), iPSCs are pluripotent and have the capability for self-renewal. Moreover, complications of immune rejection for therapeutic applications would be greatly eliminated by generating iPSCs from individual patients. This has enabled their use for drug screening/discovery and disease modelling in vitro; and for immunotherapy and regenerative cellular therapies in vivo, paving paths for new therapeutics. Although this breakthrough technology has a huge potential, generation of these unusual cells is still slow, ineffectual, fraught with pitfalls, and unsafe for human use. In this review, I describe how iPSCs are being triumphantly used to lay foundation for a fully functional discipline of regenerative dentistry and medicine, alongside discussing the challenges of translating therapies into clinics. I also discuss their future implications in regenerative dentistry field.
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