Stabilized generation of human iPSC-derived liver organoids using a modified coating approach

Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived hepatic cells are useful tools for regenerative medicine, and various culture substrates are currently used for their differentiation. We differentiated hiPSC-derived hepatic endoderm (HE), endothelial cells (ECs), and mesenchymal cells (MCs) using Laminin-511 (LN) coating to generate liver organoids, hiPSC-liver buds (hiPSC-LBs), which exhibited therapeutic effects when transplanted into disease model animals. Stably producing significant amounts of hiPSC-LBs is necessary for sufficient therapeutic effects. However, general precoating (standard coating) requires quick manipulation, often causing failure for inexperienced cell cultures, we thus tested direct LN addition to the culture medium (Direct coating). Using quantitative gene expression, flow cytometry, albumin secretion, and ammonia metabolism, we demonstrated that Standard and Direct coating similarly induce hiPSC-derived hepatocyte, mesodermal cell, EC, and MC differentiation. Standard and Direct coating-differentiated cells generated iPSC-LBs with equivalent hepatic functions. Furthermore, Direct coating enabled stable induction of differentiation independent of individual culture skills and reduced total amount of LN use as the same differentiated cell quality can be obtained upon LN supplementation at lower concentrations. In summary, the results of this study suggest that Direct coating could enable stable hiPSC-LB production at a low cost, thereby yielding mass cell production using hiPSCs.