Latest news with #organoids
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Something Inside Your Gut Could Be Like a Natural Ozempic
Ozempic and drugs like it have done wonders for weight loss by mimicking the natural hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), which helps control blood sugar and appetite. Now a new study shows how gut microbe byproducts could have the same effect. Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) in the gut are responsible for producing natural GLP-1, and recent research has suggested a reduced number of EECs and lower GLP-1 production could be helping to drive obesity. Using tests on rats and mini-guts grown in the lab (known as organoids), researchers from Marshall University in the US have now confirmed a link between fewer EECs and obesity – and found a way to get the gut to make up the shortfall. Related: "This points to a potential therapeutic strategy that leverages the gut microbes to improve metabolic outcomes in obesity," says biochemist Alip Borthakur of the Department of Clinical & Translational Sciences at Marshall University. The researchers turned to supplements of the amino acid tryptophan to fix the EEC problem. Tryptophan was already known to promote good gut health, in part through a metabolite (or biological byproduct) called indole. What the team was able to show in their work was that tryptophan and indole could form a production line to generate new EECs, and from there, more GLP-1. In other words, it promoted a more natural way of getting the same effect as a dose of Ozempic. Tryptophan is found in foods such as poultry, eggs, cheese, and certain seeds, and the thinking is that dietary supplements or probiotics of some kind could be used to drop the amino acid into the gut and start the necessary chemical chain reaction. "Our findings suggest that microbial metabolites derived from dietary tryptophan can reverse obesity-associated reductions in hormone-secreting gut cells," says Borthakur. The researchers were also able to identify a specific cell receptor, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), through which this process occurs. That gives researchers a particular target to aim at. Actual treatments are still a long way off, but these initial findings are promising. Ozempic is one of a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor antagonists, used to treat type 2 diabetes as well as obesity. However, these treatments do come with side effects, and it would be preferable for our bodies to produce GLP-1 more naturally. That's part of the motivation for studies like this. In recent years, other teams of scientists have identified ways to tweak gut bacteria and adapt our diets to try and boost GLP-1 production in the body. One of the next steps will be to move these experiments out of rats and organoids and into actual human beings. While the lab tests carried out here do of course provide useful pointers for researchers, the processes and reactions inside people could vary in certain ways – which further studies can look into. "The molecular players and signaling pathways involved in the regulation of EEC differentiation could be different in the normal and obese conditions," write the researchers in their published paper. The research has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Related News New Vaccine For Two Deadly Cancers Shows Promise in Clinical Trial Scientists Identify How Young Blood Reverses Aging in Human Skin Cells Vegetarian Diets Can Slash Cancer Risk by Up to 45%, Large Study Finds Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Liver Organoid Breakthrough: Generating Organ-Specific Blood Vessels
CINCINNATI, June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists from Cincinnati Children's and colleagues based in Japan report achieving a major step forward in organoid technology--producing liver tissue that grows its own internal blood vessels. This significant advance could lead to new ways to help people living with hemophilia and other coagulation disorders while also taking another step closer to producing transplantable repair tissues for people with damaged livers. The study, led by Takanori Takebe, MD, PhD, director for commercial innovation at the Cincinnati Children's Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Research and Medicine (CuSTOM), was published online June 25, 2025, in Nature Biomedical Engineering. Co-authors included experts from the Institute of Science Tokyo, the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., which also provided funding for the study. "Our research represents a significant step forward in understanding and replicating the complex cellular interactions that occur in liver development. The ability to generate functional sinusoidal vessels opens up new possibilities for modeling a wide range of human biology and disease, and treating coagulation disorders and beyond," Takebe says. What are organoids? For more than 15 years, researchers at Cincinnati Children's and many other institutions have been working to grow human organ tissue in the laboratory. Such tissues already have become important tools for medical research and may soon become sophisticated enough to be used directly to help repair damaged organs. The complex process involves placing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in special gels designed to prompt the stem cells to grow into specific tissue types. The stem cells can be generic or come from specific individuals with health conditions and can be gene-edited before beginning the process. Cincinnati Children's has been a leader in organoid research since 2010 when experts here developed the first functional intestinal organoid grown from iPSCs. Since then, CuSTOM has grown and evolved to include 37 labs across 16 research divisions, where teams are improving organoid technology and using organoids to shed new light on a wide range of diseases and conditions. Overcoming a challenge Until recently, the size of lab-grown organoids has been fundamentally limited because they have not included important tissues that connect organs to the rest of the body; such as nerves and blood vessels. This study recounts how the research team overcame the blood vessel obstacle. The experiments involved required nearly a decade to complete. Ultimately, the project succeeded at differentiating human pluripotent stem cells into CD32b+ liver sinusoidal endothelial progenitors (iLSEP). Then the team used an inverted multilayered air-liquid interface (IMALI) culture system to support the iLSEP cells as they self-organized into hepatic endoderm, septum mesenchyme, arterial, and sinusoidal quadruple progenitors. The advantage of using the iLSEP progenitor cells as building blocks is that they are specific to the liver. Some other studies seeking to add vascularization to organoids have depended upon "fully committed" arterial endothelial cells. These vessels may not function inside an organ as well as progenitor cells from that organ. Location and timing also were crucial to achieving the initial vessel formation. "The success occurred in part because the different cell types were grown as neighbors that naturally communicated with each other to take their next development steps," says the study's first author Norikazu Saiki, PhD, of the Institute of Science Tokyo. Key findings from the research include: Development of Fully Functional Human Vessels: The new method produced "perfused blood vessels with functional sinusoid-like features," which means the vessels were fully open and included the pulsing cell types needed to help blood move through. Correction of Coagulation Disorders: The advanced organoids also generated the correct cell types needed to produce four types of blood coagulation factors, including Factor VIII, which is missing among people with hemophilia A. In mice that mimic hemophilia, the study showed that organoid-derived Factor VIII rescued them from severe bleeding. Potential Application Beyond Liver Organoids: By developing IMALI culture methods for allowing multiple cell types to self-organize naturally, the new technology may open a possibility to grow organ-specific vesselsin other types of organoids. Big Step Closer to Improved Treatments for Hemophilia, Liver Failure In the U.S. an estimated 33,000 males live with hemophilia. Most have hemophilia A (factor VIII deficiency), while a smaller group has hemophilia B (factor IX deficiency). The condition can cause repeated bleeding within joints that can lead to chronic pain and mobility limitations. Hemophilia makes surgery risky and other wounds harder to heal. It also can lead to seizures and paralysis when bleeding affects the brain. Hemophilia is treated by injecting commercially prepared concentrates to replace the missing coagulation factors. However, human blood contains a dozen different clotting factors and there are no available human protein sources for missing coagulation factors V or XI. Also, about 20% of people with hemophilia A develop inhibitors to standard treatment products. "These advanced liver organoids can secrete these coagulation factors. If they can be produced at scale, they could become a viable treatment source that would benefit people who have developed inhibitors or are not indicated for gene therapy," Takebe says. Meanwhile, people experiencing acute or chronic liver failure also do not produce adequate supplies of coagulation factors, placing them at higher risk of bleeding complications during surgery. A factor-secreting organoid 'factory' also could help these patients. Longer-term, increasingly sophisticated liver organoids may eventually supply repair tissues that can help diseased livers heal themselves. About the study Cincinnati Children's co-authors on this study included Kentaro Iwasawa, MD, PhD, and Wendy Thompson, PhD. The Integrative Morphology Core and Pluripotent Stem Cell and Organoid Core at Cincinnati Children's contributed. Funding sources for this research included Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, the Mitsubishi Foundation, and awards from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). This work also was supported by an NIH Director's New Innovator Award, P30 DK078392, R01DK135478, and a CURE award from the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
South China Morning Post
02-07-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
University of Hong Kong scientists explore growing organs with 3D printing tech
Scientists from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are attempting to integrate 3D-printed respiratory tissue with lab-grown 'mini-organs' to help patients in need of transplants in the future. Professor Michael Chan Chi-wai from HKU's Centre for Immunology and Infection said his team was looking to produce personalised 3D-printed airways for burn victims using organoids or 'mini-organs' grown from patients' own cells collected through a single oral swab. 'Airways are one of our strengths and an area we have dedicated significant time to. When people suffer from burn injuries, they may need to reconstruct their airway,' said Chan, who also belongs to the division of public health laboratory sciences at HKU's medical faculty. 'Existing technologies allow the 3D printing of an airway using biomaterials. But without the cells, it cannot perform the functions of an airway.' Organoids are developed using a person's stem cells and can mimic the function and structure of the actual organs of a specific patient. They can be used to test a certain person's reaction to medicine, vaccines or diseases. According to Chan, HKU is one of the world's leading institutions in the research and development of respiratory organoids. The university has set up a spin-off company called C2iTech, specialising in personalised organoid cultivation.
National Post
12-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Pluristyx Launches PluriForm™ Organoid Kit, Slashing Weeks Off Organoid Development Timelines
Article content SEATTLE — Pluristyx, a leading provider of tools and services for cell product development, today announced the launch of their first-of-its-kind PluriForm™ Organoid Kit, a turnkey solution to eliminate critical bottlenecks in organoid research and allow scientists to rapidly and reliably make pluripotent aggregates using quality-assured, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The kit saves weeks of cell culture work and eliminates variability in organoid manufacturing, allowing reproducible and iterative development and application of organoids. Article content Organoids are three-dimensional cellular models that recapitulate key aspects of organ function. They are used in safety and toxicology screening, drug discovery, disease modeling, and personalized medicine and could replace many instances where animal testing is required. However, organoid use has been hindered by lengthy and highly variable processes to make iPSC aggregates. The PluriForm Organoid Kit solves this challenge by providing a ready-to-use system that includes cryopreserved, Ready-to-Differentiate® (RTD®), suspension-adapted iPSCs and optimized media with a simple protocol. Each kit contains a vial of 25 million cells and all necessary reagents. Within minutes, the end-user can combine the components and generate thousands of uniform aggregates in just one day. These pluripotent aggregates display consistent morphology and size distribution, critical parameters for reproducible differentiation to a wide range of organoids, including neuronal, liver, intestinal, pancreatic, kidney, and cardiac models. Article content 'Our goal is to accelerate the pace of discovery in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries,' said Dr. Benjamin Fryer, Co-founder and CEO of Pluristyx. 'With PluriForm, we have addressed consistent feedback that the initial step of creating reproducible cell aggregates is a major source of delay and inconsistency in organoid workflows.' Article content The FDA's Roadmap to Reduced Animal Testing in Preclinical Safety Studies, released in April 2025, explicitly advocates use of organoids to replace animal models. The PluriForm™ Organoid Kit is essential to enabling and accelerating the transition away from use of animals and other less-than-optimal cell assays and is now available for purchase through Pluristyx direct sales channels. Article content About Pluristyx Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Media Contact Article content Article content Article content
