Liver Organoids: Updates on Disease Modeling and Biomedical Applications

Caiazza, Carmen; Parisi, Silvia; Caiazzo, Massimiliano

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Liver organoids represent a breakthrough for disease modeling as proven by their ability to recapitulate pathophysiological morphology and functional features of the original tissue. This article reviews the works that established liver organoids and the recent improvements of this novel in vitro system. We discuss their application in biomedicine focusing on disease modeling, regenerative medicine and drug discovery. ABSTRACT: Liver organoids are stem cell-derived 3D structures that are generated by liver differentiation signals in the presence of a supporting extracellular matrix. Liver organoids overcome low complexity grade of bidimensional culture and high costs of in vivo models thus representing a turning point for studying liver disease modeling. Liver organoids can be established from different sources as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), embryonic stem cells (ESCs), hepatoblasts and tissue-derived cells. This novel in vitro system represents an innovative tool to deeper understand the physiology and pathological mechanisms affecting the liver. In this review, we discuss the current advances in the field focusing on their application in modeling diseases, regenerative medicine and drug discovery.