Current Challenges Associated with the Use of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Organoids in Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

Innovative advances in stem cell research have resulted in the development of organoids, which are widely used as in vitro models of human organ development and for disease. The long-term goals of scientists include the generation of high-quality organoids with properties like those of native organs, and to expand their use to a variety of applications such as drug discovery and organoid-based cell therapy. In particular, the combination of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived organoids with the recently developed genome engineering, biotechnology serve as an attractive platform in precision medicine. This review briefly summarizes the generation of organoids derived mostly from iPSCs without ethical issues, and describes the applications and technological advances of organoids under their differentiation and culture conditions. We also discuss the approaches to improve the organoid models, and how organoids can recapitulate mature organ systems of the human body for regenerative medicine. Finally, the future perspectives and remaining challenges in the field have been discussed to provide a better understanding of the potential applications of organoids.

Keywords: Application; Induced pluripotent stem cell; Organoid; Regenerative medicine.

Fig. 1

Summary of the generation of iPSC-derived multilineage organoids. The generation of human iPSCs is depicted, and several organoid systems are listed along with their representative published protocols for genera-tion. This figure was created using BioRender (https://biorender.com/).

Fig. 2

The various applications of organoids. The scope of organoids in respective applications such as areas of human biology studies, disease modeling, regenerative medicine, drug development, and bioen-gineering has been illustrated. This figure was created using BioRender (https://biorender.com/).

Fig. 3

Overview of the scale-up process for organoid applications covering iPSC generation to regene-rative medicine. Developing a safe and cost-effective treatment based on a standardized protocol for organoid generation and scale-up of the culture process is depicted. This figure was created using BioRender (https://biorender.com/).