Human assembloids recapitulate periportal liver tissue in vitro

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Lei Yuan - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Sagarika Dawka - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Yohan Kim - , Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) (Author)
  • Anke Liebert - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Fabian Rost - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Robert Arnes-Benito - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Franziska Baenke - , Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, National Center for Tumor Diseases Dresden (NCT/UCC), University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden (Author)
  • Christina Götz - , University Hospital Leipzig (Author)
  • David Long Hin Tsang - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Andrea Schuhmann - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Anna Shevchenko - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Roberta Rezende de Castro - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Seunghee Kim - , Hanyang University (Author)
  • Aleksandra Sljukic - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Anna M Dowbaj - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Andrej Shevchenko - , Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Author)
  • Daniel Seehofer - , University Hospital Leipzig (Author)
  • Dongho Choi - , Hanyang University (Author)
  • Georg Damm - , University Hospital Leipzig (Author)
  • Daniel E Stange - , Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, National Center for Tumor Diseases Dresden, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden (Author)
  • Meritxell Huch - , Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD) (Author)

Abstract

The development of complex multicellular human in vitro systems holds great promise for modelling disease and advancing drug discovery and tissue engineering1. In the liver, despite the identification of key signalling pathways involved in hepatic regeneration2,3, in vitro expansion of human hepatocytes directly from fresh patient tissue has not yet been achieved, limiting the possibility of modelling liver composite structures in vitro. Here we first developed human hepatocyte organoids (h-HepOrgs) from 28 different patients. Patient-derived hepatocyte organoids sustained long-term expansion of hepatocytes in vitro and maintained patient-specific gene expression and bile canaliculus features and function of the in vivo tissue. After transplantation, expanded h-HepOrgs rescued the phenotype of a mouse model of liver disease. By combining h-HepOrgs with portal mesenchyme and our previously published cholangiocyte organoids4-6, we generated patient-specific periportal liver assembloids that retain the histological arrangement, gene expression and cell interactions of periportal liver tissue, with cholangiocytes and mesenchyme embedded in the hepatocyte parenchyma. We leveraged this platform to model aspects of biliary fibrosis. Our human periportal liver assembloid system represents a novel in vitro platform to investigate human liver pathophysiology, accelerate drug development, enable early diagnosis and advance personalized medicine.

Details

Original languageEnglish
JournalNature
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 17 Dec 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-4246-2230/work/200631124
ORCID /0000-0001-9389-4688/work/200631382

Keywords