Human blood vessel organoids as a model of diabetic vasculopathy

Reiner A. Wimmer (), Alexandra Leopoldi, Martin Aichinger, Nikolaus Wick, Brigitte Hantusch, Maria Novatchkova, Jasmin Taubenschmid, Monika Hämmerle, Christopher Esk, Joshua A. Bagley, Dominik Lindenhofer, Guibin Chen, Manfred Boehm, Chukwuma A. Agu, Fengtang Yang, Beiyuan Fu, Johannes Zuber, Juergen A. Knoblich, Dontscho Kerjaschki and Josef M. Penninger ()
Additional contact information
Reiner A. Wimmer: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Alexandra Leopoldi: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Martin Aichinger: Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)
Nikolaus Wick: Medical University Vienna
Brigitte Hantusch: Medical University Vienna
Maria Novatchkova: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Jasmin Taubenschmid: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Monika Hämmerle: Medical University Vienna
Christopher Esk: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Joshua A. Bagley: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Dominik Lindenhofer: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Guibin Chen: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Manfred Boehm: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Chukwuma A. Agu: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Fengtang Yang: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Beiyuan Fu: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Johannes Zuber: Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)
Juergen A. Knoblich: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)
Dontscho Kerjaschki: Medical University Vienna
Josef M. Penninger: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA)

Nature, 2019, vol. 565, issue 7740, 505-510

Abstract: Abstract The increasing prevalence of diabetes has resulted in a global epidemic1. Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and amputation of lower limbs. These are often caused by changes in blood vessels, such as the expansion of the basement membrane and a loss of vascular cells2–4. Diabetes also impairs the functions of endothelial cells5 and disturbs the communication between endothelial cells and pericytes6. How dysfunction of endothelial cells and/or pericytes leads to diabetic vasculopathy remains largely unknown. Here we report the development of self-organizing three-dimensional human blood vessel organoids from pluripotent stem cells. These human blood vessel organoids contain endothelial cells and pericytes that self-assemble into capillary networks that are enveloped by a basement membrane. Human blood vessel organoids transplanted into mice form a stable, perfused vascular tree, including arteries, arterioles and venules. Exposure of blood vessel organoids to hyperglycaemia and inflammatory cytokines in vitro induces thickening of the vascular basement membrane. Human blood vessels, exposed in vivo to a diabetic milieu in mice, also mimic the microvascular changes found in patients with diabetes. DLL4 and NOTCH3 were identified as key drivers of diabetic vasculopathy in human blood vessels. Therefore, organoids derived from human stem cells faithfully recapitulate the structure and function of human blood vessels and are amenable systems for modelling and identifying the regulators of diabetic vasculopathy, a disease that affects hundreds of millions of patients worldwide.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0858-8

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