Expansion of human hepatocytes and their application in three-dimensional culture and genetic manipulation

Hepatocytes are one of the most important cell types in the liver, carrying out key functions. They are essential for hepatocyte-based therapy, disease modeling and drug development. However, the availability of primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) is limited by a shortage of donors. It is therefore of great value to expand PHHs in large quantities. Here we provide a detailed protocol for the large-scale expansion of PHHs (proliferating human hepatocytes, ProliHHs) derived from healthy donors and patients with inherited liver diseases, which can be rematured in a three-dimensional culture system. Moreover, we provide a protocol for the genetic manipulation of ProliHHs, including lentivirus transduction and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockout and knock-in. The protocol described here will help to realize the full potential of ProliHH-based therapy, organoid-based liver disease modeling and drug screening. The protocol to expand PHHs takes ~1-2 months, the protocol to establish the 3D-cultured ProliHHs takes ~8 d and the protocol to perform gene editing takes ~3 d. Personnel with basic scientific training can conduct these protocols.