Cholangiocyte organoids can repair bile ducts after transplantation in the human liver

Organoids regenerate human bile ducts Bile ducts carry bile from the liver and gall bladder to the small intestine, where it aids digestion. Cholangiocytes are epithelial cells that line bile ducts and modify bile as its transported through the biliary tree. Chronic liver diseases involving cholangiocytes account for a large fraction of liver failure and the need for liver transplantation. Because liver donors are in short supply, Sampaziotis et al. used organoid technology to develop a cell-based therapy using human tissue (see the Perspective by Kurial and Willenbring). Cholangiocyte organoids were transplanted into the intrahepatic ducts of deceased human donor livers undergoing ex vivo normothermic perfusion. The livers could be maintained for up to 100 hours, and the transplanted organoids engrafted, exhibited function, and could repair bile ducts. Science , this issue p. 839 ; see also p. 786