面向国家重大需求 开发建立新研究模型——胰岛类器官模型的研究进展与展望

糖尿病是威胁人类健康的一种重大代谢性疾病,给人们和社会带来了沉重的负担,对其发病机制的研究和治疗方法的开发是国家的重大需求。随着类器官技术的问世,胰岛类器官(islet organoid)应运而生且备受关注,被认为是极具价值的新型糖尿病研究模型。胰岛类器官是基于目前对胰岛发育机制的理解,通过体外添加诱导因子程序化地激活或抑制发育过程中的特定信号通路,将干细胞体外诱导分化成具有类似天然胰岛结构和功能的三维细胞培养物。由于胰岛类器官能够在一定程度上体外模拟胰岛的发育过程,体现其组织结构,行使分泌多种激素、调控血糖水平的生理功能,因此具有广泛的应用价值,已被用于糖尿病发病机制研究、药物筛选和评价以及临床移植治疗等,显示出良好的应用前景。本文主要总结和介绍胰岛类器官目前的研究进展、应用前景和亟待解决的问题,并且讨论和展望未来的发展方向。     

多能干细胞诱导分化为肾脏类器官的分子机制及应用前景分析

干细胞具有自我更新和多向分化潜能,在再生医学领域发挥着越来越大的作用。肾脏类器官是一种由干细胞分化而来具有一定肾脏功能的组织结构,可用于肾脏疾病的细胞修复治疗,也可以模拟肾脏发育和疾病发生及用于筛选改善肾功能的药物。肾脏类器官的体外培育成为了当前研究热点,其体外培育可分为几个阶段：干细胞-原始体节中胚层-中间中胚层-输尿管芽（后肾间质）-集合管（肾单位）。本文重点介绍了目前两种较为成熟的肾脏类器官体外诱导方法,并对肾脏类器官的应用前景进行了综述。     

类器官组织在感染性疾病研究中的应用

类器官(organoid)是体外3D培养组织干细胞所形成的多功能细胞团,具有自身增殖和多向分化的能力,在空间和结构上与来源器官组织的基因、结构和功能相似,可用于模拟体内组织细胞生长、分化及器官形成过程,在药物筛选与评价、生物医学材料及组织工程等方面具有重要的应用潜能。当前在感染性疾病研究方面,越来越多数据表明不同类器官组织可用于在体外模拟病原入侵和引发疾病过程。鉴于此,本文对类器官组织在病原感染相关疾病模型上的研究进展及其应用前景进行综述。     

多能干细胞诱导分化为肾脏类器官的研究进展与挑战

用于分化为多种类型细胞的多能干细胞(PSC)体外培养技术已被广泛应用于生物学领域中。由PSC分化而来的肾脏类器官可基本还原生物体内肾脏的组织结构和部分功能,在肾脏疾病模型研究和药物筛选中有重要作用,继续改善肾脏类器官的结构、功能和成熟度将会对肾脏再生治疗提供极大的帮助。研究肾脏类器官的重点在于体外准确模拟体内肾脏的发育过程。本文着重归纳了近十年来对胚胎肾发育过程研究的重点,对肾脏类器官分化技术的几个关键方案进行总结、分析和比较,并探讨肾脏类器官在分化研究和应用中将面临的挑战。     

肝脏类器官的研究及应用进展

肝脏疾病易感性差异大且个体间的肝脏细胞存在明显的异质性,因此开发体外能够长期存活并具有代谢功能的人体类肝组织细胞模型,对治疗终末期肝病、开展肝脏致病机理研究及药物筛选具有重要意义。过去十年中,体外三维类器官模型发展迅猛,为疾病模拟、精准化治疗领域的研究提供了新的工具,显示出巨大潜力。肝脏类器官具有患者的基因表达与突变特征,在体外能够较长时间地保持肝脏细胞功能,已被应用于疾病模拟及药物有效性研究,并具有进行原位或异位移植发挥治疗作用的应用潜能。就干细胞、肝脏原代细胞等不同来源的肝脏类器官的发展及近年的研究进展作了综述,以期为肝脏类器官在疾病建模、药物发现和器官移植领域的研究和应用提供新的思路。     

皮肤类器官的构建、功能及其应用研究进展

皮肤类器官作为一种新型的类器官模型,不仅能高度模拟皮肤组织的生理结构和功能,更好地在不同体外环境下还原较真实的皮肤生态,还可以应用于皮肤发育研究、皮肤疾病病理研究及药物筛选等领域。在干细胞研究中,皮肤类器官模型可以在特殊的生境下对具有特定功能的皮肤细胞及其附属物进行重建和改造,以弥补现有体外皮肤模型在结构、功能等方面的不足。基于此,皮肤类器官将会在皮肤再生、组织修复、药物筛选及医学美容等方面扮演越来越重要的角色。本文详述了皮肤类器官构建中所参与的细胞来源及近年来的应用,并对未来皮肤类器官的发展与优化做出了展望。     

类器官的研究进展及应用

随着人类生物学研究的不断深入,需建立新的模型系统为研究提供了有力的工具。虽然传统的研究模型已被广泛应用,但难以准确反映组织、器官在机体中的生理现象。类器官 (Organoid) 是来源于干细胞或器官祖细胞的三维细胞聚集体,可分化和自组织形成具有人体相应器官的部分特定功能和结构。由于类器官具有人源性,可模拟器官发育和形成,在体外长期扩增中具有基因组稳定性,并能够形成活体生物库进行高通量筛选等优势,成为近年来备受关注的体外模型。目前,利用类器官模型结合新兴的基因编辑、器官芯片、单细胞RNA测序技术等,能够突破传统模型的瓶颈,在器官水平上为疾病模型的建立、药物研发、精准医疗以及再生医学等提供有价值的信息。文中就类器官分类及特性、研究应用、与其他技术结合应用及展望这4个方面进行综述。     

心脏类器官

类器官是体外构建的一类由多种类型细胞组成的,与体内器官或组织高度相似的三维培养物,它能够模拟细胞所属器官的某些结构和生理功能。心血管疾病患病率及死亡率一直处于上升阶段,相关基础研究主要基于细胞和动物模型。心脏类器官是对传统心血管疾病模型的有效补充,在体外更真实和准确地反映人体心脏的生物学特性和功能,使其在疾病机制研究、药物开发、精准医疗和再生医学等领域具有广泛应用前景和独特优势。该文主要介绍了心脏类器官作为新一代疾病模型在心肌梗死、心力衰竭、遗传性心脏病和心律失常等方面的应用,并探讨了类器官技术未来的发展方向和面临的挑战。     

人源肝脏类器官的研究及应用进展

肝脏是人体的主要代谢器官,在维持人体内环境稳态过程中起着关键调控作用。近年来,肝脏疾病严重威胁着人类健康,然而使用目前体外培养的细胞系和体内动物模型均无法深入揭示人肝脏疾病的发病机制,探索出有效潜在治疗靶点。人源肝脏类器官(human liver organoids, HLOs)是从人源细胞经体外3D分化培养得到的细胞团,能在体外模拟人肝脏的结构和功能,为人们理解肝脏生理结构、体外模拟肝脏疾病和开发治疗肝脏疾病药物提供了新模型。总结近年来具有代表性的HLOs模型的建立策略及应用,探讨目前HLOs模型存在的缺陷,以期为推动HLOs向临床应用提供参考。     

类器官在发育与再生中的研究进展

类器官(organoid)作为体外模拟器官结构和功能的三维培养体系,已经广泛应用于发育研究、疾病建模和药物筛选。类器官在再生医学中具有重要的应用前景。胚胎干细胞、诱导多能性干细胞和多组织成体干/祖细胞来源的类器官再现了发育分化、稳态自我更新和组织损伤再生过程,为揭示发育和再生调控机制、明确生理病理进程提供了可能。近年来,多细胞类型的新型培养模式和单细胞测序等技术的应用促进了类器官的发展。该文总结了类器官在发育与再生中的最新研究成果,并就前沿技术在类器官研究中的应用进行了综述与展望。     

The science and engineering of stem cell-derived organoids-examples from hepatic,biliary, and pancreatic tissues

The field of organoid engineering promises to revolutionize medicine with wide-ranging applications of scientific, engineering, and clinical interest, including precision and personalized medicine, gene editing, drug development, disease modelling, cellular therapy, and human development. Organoids are a three-dimensional (3D) miniature representation of a target organ, are initiated with stem/progenitor cells, and are extremely promising tools with which to model organ function. The biological basis for organoids is that they foster stem cell self-renewal, differentiation, and self-organization, recapitulating 3D tissue structure or function better than two-dimensional (2D) systems. In this review, we first discuss the importance of epithelial organs and the general properties of epithelial cells to provide a context and rationale for organoids of the liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. Next, we develop a general framework to understand self-organization, tissue hierarchy, and organoid cultivation. For each of these areas, we provide a historical context, and review a wide range of both biological and mathematical perspectives that enhance understanding of organoids. Next, we review existing techniques and progress in hepatobiliary and pancreatic organoid engineering. To do this, we review organoids from primary tissues, cell lines, and stem cells, and introduce engineering studies when applicable. We discuss non-invasive assessment of organoids, which can reveal the underlying biological mechanisms and enable improved assays for growth, metabolism, and function. Applications of organoids in cell therapy are also discussed. Taken together, we establish a broad scientific foundation for organoids and provide an in-depth review of hepatic, biliary and pancreatic organoids.     

Generation of functional human pancreatic organoids by transplants of embryonic stem cell derivatives in a 3D-printed tissue trapper

Organoids can be regarded as a beneficial tool for discovery of new therapeutics for diabetes and/or maturation of pancreatic progenitors (PP) towards β cells. Here, we devised a strategy to enhance maturation of PP by assembly of three-dimensional (3D) pancreatic organoids (PO) containing human embryonic stem (ES) cell derivatives including ES-derived pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 (PDX1) ⁺ early PP, mesenchymal stem cells, and endothelial cells at an optimized cell ratio, on Matrigel. The PO was placed in a 3D-printed tissue trapper and heterotopically implanted into the peritoneal cavity of immunodeficient mice where it remained for 90 days. Our results indicated that, in contrast to corresponding early PP transplants, 3D PO developed more vascularization as indicated by greater area and number of vessels, a higher number of insulin-positive cells and improvement of human C-peptide secretions. Based on our findings, PO-derived β cells could be considered a novel strategy to study human β-cell development, novel therapeutics, and regenerative medicine for diabetes.     

Organogenesis in vitro

Organoids are three-dimensional structures that self-organize from human pluripotent stem cells or primary tissue, potentially serving as a traceable and manipulatable platform to facilitate our understanding of organogenesis. Despite the ongoing advancement in generating organoids of diverse systems, biological applications of in vitro generated organoids remain as a major challenge in part due to a substantial lack of intricate complexity. The studies of development and regeneration enumerate the essential roles of highly diversified nonepithelial populations such as mesenchyme and endothelium in directing fate specification, morphogenesis, and maturation. Furthermore, organoids with physiological and homeostatic functions require direct and indirect inter-organ crosstalk recapitulating what is seen in organogenesis. We herein review the evolving organoid technology at the cell, tissue, organ, and system level with a main emphasis on endoderm derivatives.     

类器官的构建与应用进展

类器官是在体外经由干细胞驱动的, 形成具有来源器官显微解剖特征的多细胞三维结构且能自我更新的微组织。类器官能分化产生器官特异性的多种细胞类型,能重现对应器官的部分功能和空间架构,它的诞生为生命医学研究和临床应用注入了新动能,在癌症基础与临床研究、再生医学等领域表现出广阔的应用前景。对近些年国内外类器官研究进展进行综述,介绍其构建过程与培养体系,并详细阐述其作为体外研究模型的优缺点,为基于类器官的科学研究与应用提供了参考。     

Focus: Personalized Medicine: Value of Organoids from Comparative Epithelia Models

Organoids have tremendous therapeutic potential. They were recently defined as a collection of organ-specific cell types, which self-organize through cell-sorting, develop from stem cells, and perform an organ specific function. The ability to study organoid development and growth in culture and manipulate their genetic makeup makes them particularly suitable for studying development, disease, and drug efficacy. Organoids show great promise in personalized medicine. From a single patient biopsy, investigators can make hundreds of organoids with the genetic landscape of the patient of origin. This genetic similarity makes organoids an ideal system in which to test drug efficacy. While many investigators assume human organoids are the ultimate model system, we believe that the generation of epithelial organoids of comparative model organisms has great potential. Many key transport discoveries were made using marine organisms. In this paper, we describe how deriving organoids from the spiny dogfish shark, zebrafish, and killifish can contribute to the fields of comparative biology and disease modeling with future prospects for personalized medicine.     

Organoid model: A new hope for pancreatic cancer treatment?

Pancreatic cancer is a rapidly progressing disease with a poor prognosis. We still have many questions about the pathogenesis, early diagnosis and precise treatment of this disease. Organoids, a rapidly emerging technology, can simulate the characteristics of pancreatic tumors. Using the organoid model of pancreatic cancer, we can study and explore the characteristics of pancreatic cancer, thereby effectively guiding clinical practice and improving patient prognosis. This review introduces the development of organoids, comparisons of organoids with other preclinical models and the status of organoids in basic research and clinical applications for pancreatic cancer.     

Stem/progenitor cells derived from adult tissues: potential for the treatment of diabetes mellitus

In view of the recent success in pancreatic islet transplantation, interest in treating diabetes by the delivery of insulin-producing beta-cells has been renewed. Because differentiated pancreatic beta-cells cannot be expanded significantly in vitro, beta-cell stem or progenitor cells are seen as a potential source for the preparation of transplantable insulin-producing tissue. In addition to embryonic stem (ES) cells, several potential adult islet/beta-cell progenitors, derived from pancreas, liver, and bone marrow, are being studied. To date, none of the candidate cells has been fully characterized or is clinically applicable, but pancreatic physiology makes the existence of one or more types of adult islet stem cells very likely. It also seems possible that pluripotential stem cells, derived from the bone marrow, contribute to adult islet neogenesis. In future studies, more stringent criteria should be met to clonally define adult islet/beta-cell progenitor cells. If this can be achieved, the utilization of these cells for the generation of insulin-producing beta-cells in vitro seems to be feasible in the near future.     

消化系统类器官研究进展

类器官是一种近年来新发展的细胞三维培养系统。类器官与真实器官的三维结构相似,并具有自我更新和再现组织来源等特点,从而能够更好地模拟真实器官的功能。类器官为研究器官发生、再生、疾病发病机制以及药物筛选提供了一个崭新的研究和应用平台。消化系统在人体内发挥着重要功能,目前已成功建立多种消化器官的类器官模型。本文就近年来味蕾、食管、胃、肝和小肠类器官的研究进展及相关应用进行综述,并对这几种类器官的应用前景进行展望。     

Next generation organoids for biomedical research and applications

Organoids are in vitro cultures of miniature fetal or adult organ-like structures. Their potentials for use in tissue and organ replacement, disease modeling, toxicology studies, and drug discovery are tremendous. Currently, major challenges facing human organoid technology include (i) improving the range of cellular heterogeneity for a particular organoid system, (ii) mimicking the native micro- and matrix-environment encountered by cells within organoids, and (iii) developing robust protocols for the in vitro maturation of organoids that remain mostly fetal-like in cultures. To tackle these challenges, we advocate the principle of reverse engineering that replicates the inner workings of in vivo systems with the goal of achieving functionality and maturation of the resulting organoid structures with the input of minimal intrinsic (cellular) and environmental (matrix and niche) constituents. Here, we present an overview of organoid technology development in several systems that employ cell materials derived from fetal and adult tissues and pluripotent stem cell cultures. We focus on key studies that exploit the self-organizing property of embryonic progenitors and the role of designer matrices and cell-free scaffolds in assisting organoid formation. We further explore the relationship between adult stem cells, niche factors, and other current developments that aim to enhance robust organoid maturation. From these works, we propose a standardized pipeline for the development of future protocols that would help generate more physiologically relevant human organoids for various biomedical applications.