上海科技大学知识管理系统

Simple Summary Primary hepatocytes constitute the majority of liver cells and are responsible for many liver-related diseases, including cancer. However, the lack of robust methods for engineering primary hepatocytes ex vivo has hindered their versatile application in disease modeling. Here, we worked to enable genome manipulation in primary mouse hepatocytes in both monolayer culture and organoids, and achieved up to 80% and 20% single gene knockout efficiency, respectively. Using genome engineering of human pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes, we developed a spectrum of isogenic cellular models of hepatocarcinoma with various single or combined oncogenic alterations, and demonstrated that the introduction of these alterations initiated malignant transformation, accelerated cancer growth, and altered transcriptomic profiles and pathway activities. These results reveal that oncogenic alterations dominate cancer characteristics and highlight a powerful genome-engineering-based platform for cancer mechanism studies.Abstract Genome editing has demonstrated its utility in generating isogenic cell-based disease models, enabling the precise introduction of genetic alterations into wild-type cells to mimic disease phenotypes and explore underlying mechanisms. However, its application in liver-related diseases has been limited by challenges in genetic modification of mature hepatocytes in a dish. Here, we conducted a systematic comparison of various methods for primary hepatocyte culture and gene delivery to achieve robust genome editing of hepatocytes ex vivo. Our efforts yielded editing efficiencies of up to 80% in primary murine hepatocytes cultured in monolayer and 20% in organoids. To model human hepatic tumorigenesis, we utilized hepatocytes differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) as an alternative human hepatocyte source. We developed a series of cellular models by introducing various single or combined oncogenic alterations into hPSC-derived hepatocytes. Our findings demonstrated that distinct mutational patterns led to phenotypic variances, affecting both overgrowth and transcriptional profiles. Notably, we discovered that the PI3KCA E542K mutant, whether alone or in combination with exogenous c-MYC, significantly impaired hepatocyte functions and facilitated cancer metabolic reprogramming, highlighting the critical roles of these frequently mutated genes in driving liver neoplasia. In conclusion, our study demonstrates genome-engineered hepatocytes as valuable cellular models of hepatocarcinoma, providing insights into early tumorigenesis mechanisms.