Gene editing enables non-invasive in vivo PET imaging of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived liver bud organoids.

Abstract

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived liver cell therapies such as hepatocyte-like cells and liver organoids could provide unlimited therapeutic cells for clinical transplantation, but an inadequate understanding of their in vivo fate impedes translation. Whole body in vivo imaging could enable monitoring of transplanted cell survival and/or expansion non-invasively over time, permitting robust comparisons between emerging therapies to identify those most effective. The human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS) is a radionuclide reporter gene facilitating whole body in vivo cell tracking by positron emission tomography (PET). We gene-edited a clinical Good Manufacturing Practice-compliant hiPSC line at the AAVS1 safe harbor locus enabling constitutive expression of a hNIS-monomeric(m)GFP fusion reporter in hiPSCs and their differentiated progeny. We confirmed reporter integration did not impact pluripotency or differentiation capacity, and radiotracer uptake capacity was retained post-differentiation. In vivo trackable liver bud (LB) organoids were generated from traceable hNIS fused to monomeric GFP (hNIS-mGFP)-hiPSCs and transplanted into healthy and liver-injured mice. LB were imaged quantitatively by 18FBF₄ ^--PET with imaging results confirmed histologically. We report, for the first time, hNIS-mGFP-hiPSC progeny retain differentiated function and PET trackability in vivo using LB. In vivo monitoring could accelerate regenerative cell therapy development by identifying efficacious candidate cells, successful engraftment/survival strategies and addressing safety concerns.