Name: an efficient method for directed hepatocyte-like cell induction from human embryonic stem cells
Uploaded: 2021-05-06T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about An Efficient Method for Directed Hepatocyte-Like Cell Induction from Human Embryonic Stem Cells at JoVE.com

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81870432 and 81570567 to X.L.Z.), (No. 81571994 to P.N.S.); the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2020A1515010054 to P.N.S.), The Li Ka Shing Shantou University Foundation (No. L1111 2008 to P.N.S.). We would like to thank Prof. Stanley Lin from Shantou University Medical College for useful advice.

1. Stem cell maintenance
NOTE: The cell maintenance protocol described below applies to the hES03 cell line maintained in an adherent monolayer. For all the following protocols in this manuscript, cells should be handled under a biological safety cabinet.
<ol>
	<li>Prepare 1x mTesR stem cell culture medium by diluting 5x supplementary medium to mTesR basic medium.</li>
	<li>Prepare 30x hESC-qualified Matrigel medium by diluting 5 mL of hESC-qualified Matrigel with 5 mL of DMEM/F12 on the ice...

<ol>
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C., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Highly+efficient+differentiation+of+hESCs+to+functional+hepatic+endoderm+requires+ActivinA+and+Wnt3a+signaling.">Highly efficient differentiation of hESCs to functional hepatic endoderm requires ActivinA and Wnt3a signaling.</a> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105, 12301-12306 (2008).</li><li>Siller, R., Greenhough, S., Naumovska, E., Sullivan, G. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Small-molecule-driven+hepatocyte+differentiation+of+human+pluripotent+stem+cells.">Small-molecule-driven hepatocyte differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells.</a> Stem Cell Reports. 4, 939-952 (2015).</li><li>Yu, J. S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=PI3K/mTORC2+regulates+TGF-beta/Activin+signalling+by+modulating+Smad2/3+activity+via+linker+phosphorylation.">PI3K/mTORC2 regulates TGF-beta/Activin signalling by modulating Smad2/3 activity via linker phosphorylation.</a> Nature Communications. 6, 7212 (2015).</li><li>Borowiak, M., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Small+molecules+efficiently+direct+endodermal+differentiation+of+mouse+and+human+embryonic+stem+cells.">Small molecules efficiently direct endodermal differentiation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells.</a> Cell Stem Cell. 4, 348-358 (2009).</li><li>Tahamtani, Y., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Treatment+of+human+embryonic+stem+cells+with+different+combinations+of+priming+and+inducing+factors+toward+definitive+endoderm.">Treatment of human embryonic stem cells with different combinations of priming and inducing factors toward definitive endoderm.</a> Stem Cells and Development. 22, 1419-1432 (2013).</li><li>Song, Z., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Efficient+generation+of+hepatocyte-like+cells+from+human+induced+pluripotent+stem+cells.">Efficient generation of hepatocyte-like cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells.</a> Cell Research. 19, 1233-1242 (2009).</li><li>Sullivan, G. J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Generation+of+functional+human+hepatic+endoderm+from+human+induced+pluripotent+stem+cells.">Generation of functional human hepatic endoderm from human induced pluripotent stem cells.</a> Hepatology. 51, 329-335 (2010).</li><li>Xia, Y., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Human+stem+cell-derived+hepatocytes+as+a+model+for+hepatitis+B+virus+infection,+spreading+and+virus-host+interactions.">Human stem cell-derived hepatocytes as a model for hepatitis B virus infection, spreading and virus-host interactions.</a> Journal of Hepatology. 66, 494-503 (2017).</li><li>Li, S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Derivation+and+applications+of+human+hepatocyte-like+cells.">Derivation and applications of human hepatocyte-like cells.</a> World Journal of Stem Cells. 11, 535-547 (2019).</li><li>Ogawa, S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Three-dimensional+culture+and+cAMP+signaling+promote+the+maturation+of+human+pluripotent+stem+cell-derived+hepatocytes.">Three-dimensional culture and cAMP signaling promote the maturation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes.</a> Development. 140, 3285-3296 (2013).</li><li>Kim, D. 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Here, we present a stepwise method that induces HLCs from hESCs&#160;in three stages. In the first stage, Activin A and CHIR99021 were used to differentiate hESCs into DE. In the second stage, KO-DMEM and DMSO were used to differentiate DE into hepatic progenitor cells. In the third stage, HZM plus HGF, OSM and hydrocortisone 21-hemisuccinate sodium salt were used to continue to differentiate hepatic progenitor cells into HLCs.
The following critical steps need to be taken into consideration w...

The liver is a highly metabolic organ that plays several roles, including deoxidation, storing glycogen, and secretion and synthesis of proteins1. Various pathogens, drugs and heredity can cause pathological changes in the liver and affect its functions2,3. Hepatocytes, as the main functional unit of the liver, play an important role in artificial liver support systems and drug toxicity elimination. However, the resource of primary human hepatocytes is limited in cell-based therapy, as well as in liver disease research. Therefore, developing new sources of functional human hepatocytes is an important research direction in the field of regenerative medicine. Since 1998 when hESCs have been established4, hESCs have been widely considered by researchers because of their superior differentiation potential (they can differentiate into various tissues in a suitable environment) and high degree of self-renewability, and thus provide ideal source cells for bioartificial livers, hepatocyte transplantation and even liver tissue engineering5.
Currently, the hepatic differentiation efficiency can be greatly increased by enriching the endoderm6. In the lineage differentiation of stem cells into endoderm, levels of the transforming growth factor&#160;&#946;&#160;(TGF-&#946;)&#160;signaling and WNT signaling pathways are the key factors in the node of the endoderm formation stage. Activation of a high-level of TGF-&#946;&#160;and WNT signaling can promote the development of endoderm7,8. Activin A is a cytokine belonging to the TGF-&#946;&#160;superfamily. Therefore, Activin A is widely used in endoderm induction of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and hESCs9,10. GSK3 is a serine-threonine protein kinase. Researchers have found that CHIR99021, a specific inhibitor of GSK3&#946;, can stimulate typical WNT signals, and can promote stem cell differentiation under certain conditions, suggesting that CHIR99021 has potential for inducing stem cell differentiation into endoderm 11,12,13.
Here we report an efficient and reproducible method for effectively inducing the differentiation of hESCs into functional HLCs. The sequential addition of Activin A and CHIR99021 produced about 89.7&#177;0.8% SOX17 (DE marker)-positive cells. After being further maturated in vitro, these cells expressed hepatic specific markers and exerted hepatocyte-like morphology (based on hematoxylin-eosin staining (H &#38; E)) and functions, such as uptake of indocyanine green (ICG), glycogen storage and CYP3 activity. The results show that hESCs can be successfully differentiated into mature functional HLCs by this method and can provide a basis for liver disease-related research and in vitro drug screening.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>2-Mercaptoethanol</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>M7522</td>
			<td>For hepatic progenitor differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>488 labeled goat against mouse IgG</td>
			<td>ZSGB-BIO</td>
			<td>ZF-0512</td>
			<td>For IF,second antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>488 labeled goat against Rabbit IgG</td>
			<td>ZSGB-BIO</td>
			<td>ZF-0516</td>
			<td>For IF,second antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Accutase</td>
			<td>Stem Cell Technologies</td>
			<td>7920</td>
			<td>For cell passage</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Activin A</td>
			<td>peproTech</td>
			<td>120-14E</td>
			<td>For definitive endoderm formation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti - Albumin (ALB)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A6684</td>
			<td>For IF and WB, primary antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti - Human Oct4</td>
			<td>Abcam</td>
			<td>Ab19587</td>
			<td>For IF, primary antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti - &#945;-Fetoprotein (AFP)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A8452</td>
			<td>For IF and WB, primary antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti -SOX17</td>
			<td>Abcam</td>
			<td>ab224637</td>
			<td>For IF, primary antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4 alpha (HNF4&#945;)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>SAB1412164</td>
			<td>For IF, primary antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>B-27 Supplement</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>17504-044</td>
			<td>For definitive endoderm formation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BSA</td>
			<td>Beyotime</td>
			<td>ST023-200g</td>
			<td>For cell blocking</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CHIR99021</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>SML1046</td>
			<td>For definitive endoderm formation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DAPI</td>
			<td>Beyotime</td>
			<td>C1006</td>
			<td>For nuclear staining</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DEPC-water</td>
			<td>Beyotime</td>
			<td>R0021</td>
			<td>For RNA dissolution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DM3189</td>
			<td>MCE</td>
			<td>HY-12071</td>
			<td>For definitive endoderm formation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DMEM/F12</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11320-033</td>
			<td>For cell culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DMSO</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>D5879</td>
			<td>For hepatic progenitor differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DPBS</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>14190-144</td>
			<td>For cell culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GlutaMAX</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>35050-061</td>
			<td>For hepatic progenitor differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>H&#38;E staining kit</td>
			<td>Beyotime</td>
			<td>C0105S</td>
			<td>For H&#38;E staining</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)</td>
			<td>peproTech</td>
			<td>100-39</td>
			<td>For hepatocyte differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HepatoZYME-SFM (HZM)</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>17705-021</td>
			<td>For hepatocyte differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hydrocortisone-21-hemisuccinate</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>H4881</td>
			<td>For hepatocyte differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Indocyanine</td>
			<td>Sangon Biotech</td>
			<td>A606326</td>
			<td>For Indocyanine staining</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Knock Out DMEM</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>10829-018</td>
			<td>For hepatic progenitor differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Knock Out SR Multi-Species</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>A31815-02</td>
			<td>For hepatic progenitor differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Matrigel hESC-qualified</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>354277</td>
			<td>For cell culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MEM NeAA</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11140-050</td>
			<td>For hepatic progenitor differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mTesR 5X Supplement</td>
			<td>Stem Cell Technologies</td>
			<td>85852</td>
			<td>For cell culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mTesR Basal Medium</td>
			<td>Stem Cell Technologies</td>
			<td>85851</td>
			<td>For cell culture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Oncostatin (OSM)</td>
			<td>peproTech</td>
			<td>300-10</td>
			<td>For hepatocyte differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>P450 - CYP3A4 (Luciferin - PFBE)</td>
			<td>Promega</td>
			<td>V8901</td>
			<td>For CYP450 activity</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PAS staining kit</td>
			<td>Solarbio</td>
			<td>G1281</td>
			<td>For PAS staining</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pen/Strep</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>15140-122</td>
			<td>For cell differentiation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Peroxidase-Conjugated Goat anti-Mouse IgG</td>
			<td>ZSGB-BIO</td>
			<td>ZB-2305</td>
			<td>For WB,second antibody</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Primary Antibody Dilution Buffer for&#160;Western Blot</td>
			<td>Beyotime</td>
			<td>P0256</td>
			<td>For primary antibody dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>ReverTraAce qPCR RT Kit</td>
			<td>TOYOBO</td>
			<td>FSQ-101</td>
			<td>For cDNA Synthesis</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RNAiso Plus</td>
			<td>TaKaRa</td>
			<td>9109</td>
			<td>For RNA Isolation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RPMI 1640</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11875093</td>
			<td>For definitive endoderm formation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Skim milk</td>
			<td>Sangon Biotech</td>
			<td>A600669</td>
			<td>For second antibody preparation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SYBR Green Master Mix</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>A25742</td>
			<td>For RT-PCR Analysis</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Torin2</td>
			<td>MCE</td>
			<td>HY-13002</td>
			<td>For definitive endoderm formation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tween</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>WXBB7485V</td>
			<td>For washing buffer preparation</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

an efficient method for directed hepatocyte-like cell induction from human embryonic stem cells

The potential functions of hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise for disease modeling and drug screening applications. Provided here is an efficient and reproducible method for differentiation of hESCs into functional HLCs. The establishment of an endoderm lineage is a key step in the differentiation to HLCs. By our method, we regulate the key signaling pathways by continuously supplementing Activin A and CHIR99021 during hESC differentiation into definitive endoderm (DE), followed by generation of hepatic progenitor cells, and finally HLCs with typical hepatocyte morphology in a stagewise method with completely defined reagents. The hESC-derived HLCs produced by this method express stage-specific markers (including albumin, HNF4&#945; nuclear receptor, and sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP)), and show special characteristics related to mature and functional hepatocytes (including indocyanine green staining, glycogen storage, hematoxylin-eosin staining and CYP3 activity), and can provide a platform for the development of HLC-based applications in the study of liver diseases.

The schematic diagram of HLC induction from hESCs and representative bright-field images of each differentiation stage are shown in Figure 1. In Stage I, Activin A and CHIR99021 were added for 3 days to induce stem cells to form endoderm cells. In Stage II, the endoderm cells differentiated into hepatic progenitor cells after being treated with differentiation medium for 5 days. In Stage III, early hepatocytes had matured and differentiated into HLCs after 10 days in HGF and OSM (<strong cla...

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An Efficient Method for Directed Hepatocyte-Like Cell Induction from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

This manuscript describes a detailed protocol for differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into functional hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) by continuously supplementing Activin A and CHIR99021 during hESC differentiation into definitive endoderm (DE).

The potential functions of hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise for disease modeling and drug ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Immunology and Infection

A Simple and Efficient Method to Isolate Macrophages from Mixed Primary Cultures of Adult Liver Cells

Kupffer cells are liver-specific resident macrophages and play an important role in the physiological and pathological functions of the liver1-3. Although ...

Optimized Protocol for Efficient Transfection of Dendritic Cells without Cell Maturation

Dendritic cells (DCs) can be considered sentinels of the immune system which play a critical role in its initiation and response to infection1. Detection ...

HLA-Ig Based Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells for Efficient ex vivo Expansion of Human CTL

HLA-Ig Based Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells for Efficient ex vivo Expansion of Human CTL

CTL with optimal effector function play critical roles in mediating protection against various intracellular infections and cancer. However, individuals ...

Directed Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells towards T Lymphocytes

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of antigen-specific CD8+  cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) is a promising treatment for a variety of  malignancies 1. CTLs can  ...

Killer Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells (KaAPC) for Efficient In Vitro Depletion of Human Antigen-specific T Cells

Killer Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells KaAPC for Efficient In Vitro Depletion of Human Antigen-specific T Cells

Current treatment of T cell mediated autoimmune diseases relies mostly on strategies of global immunosuppression, which, in the long term, is accompanied ...

Derivation of T Cells In Vitro from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Derivation of T Cells In Vitro from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

The OP9/OP9-DL1 co-culture system has become a well-established method for deriving differentiated blood cell types from embryonic and hematopoietic ...

An Ex vivo Model of an Oligodendrocyte-directed T-Cell Attack in Acute Brain Slices

An Ex vivo Model of an Oligodendrocyte-directed T-Cell Attack in Acute Brain Slices

Death of oligodendrocytes accompanied by destruction of neurons and axons are typical histopathological findings in cortical and subcortical grey matter ...

An Optimized Method for Isolating and Expanding Invariant Natural Killer T Cells from Mouse Spleen

The ability to rapidly secrete cytokines upon stimulation is a functional characteristic of the invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell lineage. iNKT cells ...

Organoids as Model for Infectious Diseases: Culture of Human and Murine Stomach Organoids and Microinjection of Helicobacter Pylori

Recently infection biologists have employed stem cell derived cultures to answer the need for new and better models to study host-pathogen interactions. ...

Efficient Isolation Protocol for B and T Lymphocytes from Human Palatine Tonsils

Tonsils form a part of the immune system providing the first line of defense against inhaled pathogens. Usually the term &#8220;tonsils&#8221; refers to ...