Hepatic Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Functional In Vitro Models Recapitulating Native Liver Complexity for MASLD Modelling

Abstract

Human in vitro hepatic models that accurately recapitulate liver function are essential for fundamental and translational research; however, currently utilised models for disease modelling and drug discovery lack physiological fidelity and require prolonged culture time. Here, we present a streamlined 10-day protocol for efficient and reproducible differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into hepatocyte like cells (HLCs) and hepatic liver organoids (HLOs). Both models exhibited mature hepatocyte differentiation, as evidenced by albumin secretion and CYP3A4 metabolic activity. Interestingly, HLOs display enhanced multicellular complexity incorporating endothelial, stellate, and macrophage populations along with hepatocytes, thereby more closely recapitulating the native liver microenvironment than HLCs. Here, steatosis was induced in both platforms, which resulted in triglyceride accumulation and upregulated lipogenic markers (DGAT1, DGAT2). However, only HLOs recapitulated advanced disease characteristics, including inflammatory (IL-10) and fibrotic (alpha SMA, COL1A1) responses. Resmetirom, a thyroid hormone receptor-{beta} agonist, significantly reduced steatosis and restored molecular signatures in both models. Additionally, transplanted HLOs demonstrated prolonged survival and displayed host-derived vascularization, thereby validating in vivo maturation. Collectively, HLCs provides a rapid and physiologically relevant liver model, with HLOs offering superior utility for disease modelling, therapeutic evaluation, and regenerative applications due to their enhanced functional and physiological relevance.