December 7, 2018
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group led by Professor Toshiro Sato of The Sakaguchi Laboratory (Organoid Medicine) at the Keio University School of Medicine has developed a new culture technique for the long-term culture of human intestinal epithelial organoids, "mini-organs" that resemble actual human intestinal epithelial tissue. The human intestinal epithelium contains various differentiated cells responsible for absorbing water and nutrients, secreting mucus, and producing hormones. Although Professor Sato's group established a method for long-term, three-dimensional ex vivo culture of human intestinal epithelial cells in 2012 (Sato T, et al. Gastroenterology 2012), this technique could not replicate the in vivo phenomenon where differentiated cells are continuously generated from stem cells to supply the epithelial tissue. This was because the growth factors used in the method inhibited differentiation. Therefore, in this study, the research group re-examined the growth factors used for culture and replaced the conventionally used factors with two factors that function in human intestinal tissue, IGF-1 and FGF-2, thereby recreating a culture medium environment closer to that of the in vivo state. Using this new method, it has become possible to efficiently create organoids similar to those in vivo, where differentiated cells are continuously supplied.
The results of this research make it possible to construct human intestinal epithelial tissue ex vivo that more closely resembles the original tissue. It is expected that as this new culture technique becomes more widespread, drug testing and other studies, which have traditionally been conducted through clinical trials or research using animal models, can be performed easily and with high precision in a culture dish.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of the American scientific journal "Cell Stem Cell" at 1:00 a.m. on December 7, 2018 (JST).
Please see below for the full press release.