Liver development is restored by blastocyst complementation of HHEX knockout in mice and pigs.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There are over 17,000 patients in the US waiting to receive liver transplants, and these numbers are increasing dramatically. Significant effort is being made to obtain functional hepatocytes and liver tissue that can for therapeutic use in patients. Blastocyst complementation is a challenging, innovative technology that could fundamentally change the future of organ transplantation. It requires the knockout (KO) of genes essential for cell or organ development in early stage host embryos followed by injection of donor pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) into host blastocysts to generate chimeric offspring in which progeny of the donor cells populate the open niche to develop functional tissues and organs.

Methods

The HHEX gene is necessary for proper liver development.

SUBMITTER: Ruiz-Estevez M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8132445 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature