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Human branching cholangiocyte organoids recapitulate functional bile duct formation.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Roos, Floris JM 
van Tienderen, Gilles S 
Wu, Haoyu 
Bordeu, Ignacio 
Vinke, Dina 

Abstract

Human cholangiocyte organoids show great promise for regenerative therapies and in vitro modeling of bile duct development and diseases. However, the cystic organoids lack the branching morphology of intrahepatic bile ducts (IHBDs). Here, we report establishing human branching cholangiocyte organoid (BRCO) cultures. BRCOs self-organize into complex tubular structures resembling the IHBD architecture. Single-cell transcriptomics and functional analysis showed high similarity to primary cholangiocytes, and importantly, the branching growth mimics aspects of tubular development and is dependent on JAG1/NOTCH2 signaling. When applied to cholangiocarcinoma tumor organoids, the morphology changes to an in vitro morphology like primary tumors. Moreover, these branching cholangiocarcinoma organoids (BRCCAOs) better match the transcriptomic profile of primary tumors and showed increased chemoresistance to gemcitabine and cisplatin. In conclusion, BRCOs recapitulate a complex process of branching morphogenesis in vitro. This provides an improved model to study tubular formation, bile duct functionality, and associated biliary diseases.

Description

Keywords

Bile Ducts, Cholangiocarcinoma, Epithelial Cells, Humans, Organoids, Transcriptome, branching morphogenesis, cholangiocarcinoma, cholangiocyte organoids, cholangiocytes, disease modeling, embryonic bile duct development, intrahepatic bile duct

Journal Title

Cell Stem Cell

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1934-5909
1875-9777

Volume Title

29

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P034616/1)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_17230)
Medical Research Council (G0701448)