Biology subjects

van der Laan, L. J. W.

Publications and source records attributed to van der Laan, L. J. W..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Novel hepatocyte-like liver organoids recapitulate crucial mature hepatic functions

Accurate liver disease modeling and drug toxicity testing still remain challenging as liver cells in vitro poorly resemble adult hepatocytes, as we previously demonstrated using whole transcriptome and cell identity analysis. To address this, we used our insights into hepatic modeling to develop hepatocyte-like liver organoids (HeLLOs), a novel human organoid model with mature hepatocyte functions superior to existing models. HeLLOs are easily established from (small) healthy or diseased liver tissues and rapidly expanded for an extended period in optimized culture conditions. Transcriptomic and functional analyses revealed that differentiated HeLLOs closely resemble fresh primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) and perform key hepatic functions such as gluconeogenesis, drug metabolism, and bile acid synthesis. We developed a HeLLO-based toxicity assay with higher sensitivity in predicting liver toxicity of known liver-toxic drugs compared to the gold-standard PHHs. By modeling disease-related mechanisms, such as bile acid transport, HeLLOs uncover transport-inhibition toxicity mechanisms of known liver toxic drugs. Single cell sequencing analysis of HeLLOs identified a heterogeneous cluster of cells with cholangiocyte-like and hepatocyte-like cells, overall resembling liver regenerative cells. As such, HeLLOs hold great promise for advancing liver disease modeling and drug testing. To our knowledge, HeLLOs are the best expandable liver model for predicting adverse drug reactions as well as modeling various liver disease mechanisms.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2024

A hollow fiber membrane-based liver organoid-on-a-chip model for examining drug metabolism and transport

Liver-on-a-chip models predictive for both metabolism as well as canalicular and blood transport of drug candidates in humans are lacking. Here, we established an advanced, bioengineered and animal component-free hepatocyte-like millifluidic system based on 3D hollow fiber membranes (HFMs), recombinant human laminin 332 coating and adult human stem cell-derived organoids. Organoid fragments formed polarized and tight monolayers on HFMs with improved hepatocyte-like maturation, as compared to standard 3D organoid cultures in Matrigel from matched donors. Gene expression profiling and immunofluorescence revealed that hepatocyte-like monolayers expressed a broad panel of phase I (e.g., CYP3A4, CYP2D6) and II (UGTs, SULTs) drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters (e.g., OATP1B3, MDR1 and MRP3). Moreover, statically cultured monolayers displayed phase I and II metabolism of a cocktail of six relevant compounds, including midazolam and 7-hydroxycoumarin. We also demonstrated the disposition of midazolam in the basal/blood-like circulation and apical/canalicular-like compartment of the millifluidic chip. Finally, we connected the system to the other two PK/ADME-most relevant organ systems, i.e. small intestine- and kidney proximal tubule-like to study the bioavailability of midazolam and coumarin, and excretion of metformin. In conclusion, we generated a proof-of-concept liver organoid-on-a-chip model for examining metabolism and transport of drugs, which can be further developed to predict PK/ADME profiles in humans.

pharmacology and toxicology↗

bioRxiv2023

Unbiased method for spectral analysis of cells with great diversity of autofluorescence spectra

Autofluorescence is an intrinsic feature of cells, caused by the natural emission of light by its cellular content, that can complicate analysis of flow cytometry data. Different cell types have different autofluorescence spectra and even within one cell type heterogeneity of autofluorescence spectra can be present, for example as a consequence of activation status or metabolic changes. By using full spectrum flow cytometry, the emission spectrum of a fluorochrome is captured by a set of detectors across a range of wavelengths, creating an unique spectrum for this fluorochrome, that is used to unmix the signal of a full stained sample into the signals of the different fluorochromes. Importantly, this technology can also be used to identify the aut-ofluorescence signal of an unstained sample, which can be used for unmixing purposes and to separate the autofluorescence signal from the fluorophore signals. However, this only works if the sample has one homogeneous autofluorescence spectrum. To analyze samples with a heterogeneous autofluorescence spectral profile, we here setup an unbiased workflow to detect all different autofluorescence spectra present in a sample to take them along as autofluorescence signatures during the unmixing of the full stained samples. First, clusters of cells with similar autofluorescence spectra are identified by unbiased dimensional reduction and clustering. Then, unique autofluorescence clusters are determined and are used to improve the unmixing accuracy of the full stained sample. This unbiased method allows for the identification of all autofluorescence spectra present in a sample, independent of cell types and intensity of the autofluorescence spectra. Furthermore, this method is equally useful for spectral analysis of different biological samples, including tissue cell suspensions, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and in vitro cultures of (primary) cells.

cell biology↗