High-content screening of organoids reveals the mechanisms of human pancreas acinar specification

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Rashmiparvathi Keshara - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Karolina Kuodyte - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Antje Janosch - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Cordula Andree - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Marc Bickle - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Martin Stöter - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Rico Barsacchi - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Yung Hae Kim - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Anne Grapin-Botton - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD), Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden (PLID) of the Helmholtz Center Munich, Clusters of Excellence PoL: Physics of Life (Author)

Abstract

Organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells have emerged as powerful models to study human development. To investigate signaling pathways regulating human pancreas differentiation and morphogenesis, we developed a high-content, image-based screen and quantitative multivariate analysis pipelines robust to heterogeneity to extract single-cell and organoid features using pancreatic progenitor organoids. Here, we identified 54 compounds affecting cell identity and/or morphological landscape. Focusing on one family of compounds, we found that glycogen synthase kinase 3α/β (GSK3A/B) inhibition via wingless/int-1 (WNT) signaling has a reversible effect on cell identity, repressing pancreatic progenitor markers and inducing a poised state in progenitors transitioning to acinar cells. We show that additional fibroblast growth factor (FGF) repression enables further differentiation of acinar cells, recapitulating pancreatic acinar morphogenesis and function. The ability to produce acinar cells is valuable for future studies on pancreatic exocrine function and cancer initiation in humans, as acinar cells are thought to be an important cell of origin for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)325-339.e8
JournalCell Stem Cell
Volume33
Issue number2
Early online date21 Jan 2026
Publication statusPublished - 5 Feb 2026
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 41570824

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • acinar differentiation, high-content drug screening, human pancreas organoids, image analysis, organoid morphology, pancreas development, WNT