Generation of Hepatic Stellate Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem for in vitro liver fibrosis studies

We established a protocol to efficiently generate hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). Our procedure generated complex in vitro spheroid cultures that better mimic the complexity of the liver as well as liver function. In co-culture, iPSC-HSCs promote maintenance of hepatocyte metabolic functionality while being able to respond to hepatocyte-mediated toxicity, activating and promoting intra-spheroid fibrogenesis, one of the main drug-associated adverse liver outcomes. iPSC-HSCs display functional and phenotypic features of human primary cultured HSCs, indicating that they may be a highly suitable cell source of human HSCs for culture-based studies.