Transplantable human thyroid organoids generated from embryonic stem cells to rescue hypothyroidism
Mírian Romitti, Adrien Tourneur, Bárbara F. Fonseca, Gilles Doumont, Pierre Gillotay, Xiao-Hui Liao, Sema Elif Eski, Gaëtan Van Simaeys, Laura Chomette, Hélène Lasolle, Olivier Monestier, Dominika Figini Kasprzyk, Vincent Detours, Sumeet Pal Singh, Serge Goldman, Samuel Refetoff, Sabine Costagliola
Abstract
The thyroid gland captures iodide in order to synthesize hormones that act on almost all tissues and are essential for normal growth and metabolism. Low plasma levels of thyroid hormones lead to hypothyroidism, which is one of the most common disorder in humans and is not always satisfactorily treated by lifelong hormone replacement. Therefore, in addition to the lack of in vitro tractable models to study human thyroid development, differentiation and maturation, functional human thyroid organoids could pave the way to explore new therapeutic approaches. Here we report the generation of transplantable thyroid organoids derived from human embryonic stem cells capable of restoring plasma thyroid hormone in athyreotic mice as a proof of concept for future therapeutic development.