April 17, 2025
Keio University School of Medicine
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
JSR Corporation
A research team led by Project Assistant Professor Ryo Igarashi (a graduate student), Senior Lecturer Mayumi Oda, and Professor Toshiro Sato of the Department of Biochemistry, Keio University School of Medicine, has established a method for proliferating hepatocytes without losing their original functions, and has succeeded in creating "organoids," miniature tissues, from human primary hepatocytes. The study also showed that these hepatocyte organoids can replicate functions such as drug and lipid metabolism in vitro, and demonstrated their potential for application in regenerative medicine through cell transplantation.
With conventional methods, the in vitro proliferation of adult hepatocytes has been difficult, and the loss of hepatocyte function during this process has been a problem. This research team established a new culture technology and succeeded in expanding adult hepatocytes as organoids by more than a million-fold. Furthermore, the differentiated hepatocyte organoids formed bile canaliculi that excrete bile and demonstrated drug and lipid metabolism functions comparable to those in vivo. By transplanting these hepatocyte organoids into liver injury model mice, the team confirmed that the hepatocyte organoids engrafted and integrated with the surrounding mouse hepatocytes, leading to the recovery of liver function. These hepatocyte organoids, with their diverse functions, are expected to be applied in drug discovery, disease research, and regenerative medicine.
The details of this research were published in the online edition of the British scientific journal Nature on April 16, 2025 (UK time).
For the full press release, please see below.