Primitive Hepatoblasts Driving Early Liver Development

Abstract

The embryonic development of the liver is initiated by the emergence of hepatoblasts, originating from the ventral foregut endoderm adjacent to the heart. Here, we identify and characterize a previously unrecognized population of early hepatoblasts at the ventroposterior part of the emerging liver bud, traced from Cdx2-positive endoderm progenitors, which we term primitive hepatoblasts. Mouse and human single-cell transcriptomics reveals the expression of both canonical hepatoblast markers TBX3, FGB, and KRT8/18 and primitive-specific mesenchymal markers ID3, VIM, and GATA4. Lineage tracing revealed the notable contribution up to 12.6% of LIV2+ hepatoblasts at E11.5 but diminishes in late fetal and postnatal development. Epigenetic and functional perturbation studies further uncover that primitive hepatoblast emergence is primed by WNT-suppression on RA-permissive CDX2+FOXA2+ progenitors. Furthermore, human pluripotent stem cell-derived primitive hepatoblast-like cells secrete pleiotrophin and midkine to amplify hepatoblast populations and develop epithelial-mesenchymal hybrid tissues in vivo. Our results provide a new framework for understanding lineage heterogeneity during early hepatogenesis and offer revised insights into strategies to model normal and abnormal liver development.