Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs

Abstract Background There are over 17,000 patients in the US waiting to receive liver transplants, and these numbers are increasing dramatically. Significant effort is being made to obtain functional hepatocytes and liver tissue that can for therapeutic use in patients. Blastocyst complementation is...

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Main Authors: M. Ruiz-Estevez, A. T. Crane, P. Rodriguez-Villamil, F. L. Ongaratto, Yun You, A. R. Steevens, C. Hill, T. Goldsmith, D. A. Webster, L. Sherry, S. Lim, N. Denman, W. C. Low, D. F. Carlson, J. R. Dutton, C. J. Steer, O. Gafni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2021-05-01
Series:Stem Cell Research & Therapy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-021-02348-z
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spelling doaj-4d8b1183f68246fe85476a7b0d4f92132021-05-23T11:09:32ZengBMCStem Cell Research & Therapy1757-65122021-05-0112111310.1186/s13287-021-02348-zLiver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigsM. Ruiz-Estevez0A. T. Crane1P. Rodriguez-Villamil2F. L. Ongaratto3Yun You4A. R. Steevens5C. Hill6T. Goldsmith7D. A. Webster8L. Sherry9S. Lim10N. Denman11W. C. Low12D. F. Carlson13J. R. Dutton14C. J. Steer15O. Gafni16Recombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of MinnesotaRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesMouse Genetics Laboratory, University of MinnesotaDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of MinnesotaRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesBioinformatics and Computational Biology Program, University of MinnesotaStem Cell Institute, University of MinnesotaDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of MinnesotaRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesStem Cell Institute, University of MinnesotaStem Cell Institute, University of MinnesotaRecombinetics Inc., Stem Cell TechnologiesAbstract Background There are over 17,000 patients in the US waiting to receive liver transplants, and these numbers are increasing dramatically. Significant effort is being made to obtain functional hepatocytes and liver tissue that can for therapeutic use in patients. Blastocyst complementation is a challenging, innovative technology that could fundamentally change the future of organ transplantation. It requires the knockout (KO) of genes essential for cell or organ development in early stage host embryos followed by injection of donor pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) into host blastocysts to generate chimeric offspring in which progeny of the donor cells populate the open niche to develop functional tissues and organs. Methods The HHEX gene is necessary for proper liver development. We engineered loss of HHEX gene expression in early mouse and pig embryos and performed intraspecies blastocyst complementation of HHEX KO embryos with eGFP-labeled PSCs in order to rescue the loss of liver development. Results Loss of HHEX gene expression resulted in embryonic lethality at day 10.5 in mice and produced characteristics of lethality at day 18 in pigs, with absence of liver tissue in both species. Analyses of mouse and pig HHEX KO fetuses confirmed significant loss of liver-specific gene and protein expression. Intraspecies blastocyst complementation restored liver formation and liver-specific proteins in both mouse and pig. Livers in complemented chimeric fetuses in both species were comprised of eGFP-labeled donor-derived cells and survived beyond the previously observed time of HHEX KO embryonic lethality. Conclusions This work demonstrates that loss of liver development in the HHEX KO can be rescued via blastocyst complementation in both mice and pigs. This complementation strategy is the first step towards generating interspecies chimeras for the goal of producing human liver cells, tissues, and potentially complete organs for clinical transplantation.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-021-02348-zDevelopmentStem cellsGene editingEmbryoTransplantation
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author M. Ruiz-Estevez
A. T. Crane
P. Rodriguez-Villamil
F. L. Ongaratto
Yun You
A. R. Steevens
C. Hill
T. Goldsmith
D. A. Webster
L. Sherry
S. Lim
N. Denman
W. C. Low
D. F. Carlson
J. R. Dutton
C. J. Steer
O. Gafni
spellingShingle M. Ruiz-Estevez
A. T. Crane
P. Rodriguez-Villamil
F. L. Ongaratto
Yun You
A. R. Steevens
C. Hill
T. Goldsmith
D. A. Webster
L. Sherry
S. Lim
N. Denman
W. C. Low
D. F. Carlson
J. R. Dutton
C. J. Steer
O. Gafni
Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs
Stem Cell Research & Therapy
Development
Stem cells
Gene editing
Embryo
Transplantation
author_facet M. Ruiz-Estevez
A. T. Crane
P. Rodriguez-Villamil
F. L. Ongaratto
Yun You
A. R. Steevens
C. Hill
T. Goldsmith
D. A. Webster
L. Sherry
S. Lim
N. Denman
W. C. Low
D. F. Carlson
J. R. Dutton
C. J. Steer
O. Gafni
author_sort M. Ruiz-Estevez
title Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs
title_short Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs
title_full Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs
title_fullStr Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs
title_full_unstemmed Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs
title_sort liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of hhex knockout in mice and pigs
publisher BMC
series Stem Cell Research & Therapy
issn 1757-6512
publishDate 2021-05-01
description Abstract Background There are over 17,000 patients in the US waiting to receive liver transplants, and these numbers are increasing dramatically. Significant effort is being made to obtain functional hepatocytes and liver tissue that can for therapeutic use in patients. Blastocyst complementation is a challenging, innovative technology that could fundamentally change the future of organ transplantation. It requires the knockout (KO) of genes essential for cell or organ development in early stage host embryos followed by injection of donor pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) into host blastocysts to generate chimeric offspring in which progeny of the donor cells populate the open niche to develop functional tissues and organs. Methods The HHEX gene is necessary for proper liver development. We engineered loss of HHEX gene expression in early mouse and pig embryos and performed intraspecies blastocyst complementation of HHEX KO embryos with eGFP-labeled PSCs in order to rescue the loss of liver development. Results Loss of HHEX gene expression resulted in embryonic lethality at day 10.5 in mice and produced characteristics of lethality at day 18 in pigs, with absence of liver tissue in both species. Analyses of mouse and pig HHEX KO fetuses confirmed significant loss of liver-specific gene and protein expression. Intraspecies blastocyst complementation restored liver formation and liver-specific proteins in both mouse and pig. Livers in complemented chimeric fetuses in both species were comprised of eGFP-labeled donor-derived cells and survived beyond the previously observed time of HHEX KO embryonic lethality. Conclusions This work demonstrates that loss of liver development in the HHEX KO can be rescued via blastocyst complementation in both mice and pigs. This complementation strategy is the first step towards generating interspecies chimeras for the goal of producing human liver cells, tissues, and potentially complete organs for clinical transplantation.
topic Development
Stem cells
Gene editing
Embryo
Transplantation
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-021-02348-z
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