Progress on organoid models in the mechanism of the gut-liver- adipose axis in childhood obesity

WANG Tengfei, WANG Zerui, WANG Xingyun

Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2025, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (10) : 1074-1078.

PDF(672 KB)
PDF(672 KB)
Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2025, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (10) : 1074-1078. DOI: 10.11852/zgetbjzz2025-0301
Pediatric Metabolic Diseases Column

Progress on organoid models in the mechanism of the gut-liver- adipose axis in childhood obesity

  • WANG Tengfei1, WANG Zerui2, WANG Xingyun1
Author information +
History +

Abstract

The prevention and treatment of childhood obesity and related metabolic disorders face significant challenges due to mechanistic complexity and marked individual heterogeneity.Current research is hindered by the lack of in vitro models capable of precisely simulating pediatric metabolic characteristics and multi-organ interactions.With breakthroughs in organoid technology, its advantages in 3D structural reconstruction, genetic editing, and cross-organ co-culture have established highly biomimetic model systems for in vitro research.This review focuses on the research demands of childhood obesity, systematically summarizing the construction strategies and application advances of intestinal organoids, hepatic organoid, and adipose organoid.It further addresses critical bottlenecks, including insufficient model standardization, limitations in metabolic microenvironment simulation, and challenges in cross-scale data integration, aiming to provide novel multi-dimensional research strategies and translational pathways for elucidating mechanisms and enabling precision interventions in obesity-related metabolic diseases.

Key words

organoids / obesity / children / inter-organ communication

Cite this article

Download Citations
WANG Tengfei, WANG Zerui, WANG Xingyun. Progress on organoid models in the mechanism of the gut-liver- adipose axis in childhood obesity[J]. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care. 2025, 33(10): 1074-1078 https://doi.org/10.11852/zgetbjzz2025-0301

References

[1] WHO.Obesity and overweight [EB/OL].(2024-03-01).https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight.
[2] Lobstein T, Brinsden H.Global atlas on childhood obesity[EB/OL].(2019-10-01).https://www.worldobesity.org/membersarea/global-atlas-on-childhood-obesity.
[3] 刘璐洁, 徐东, 尹春燕, 等.儿童肥胖代谢组学的研究进展[J].中国儿童保健杂志, 2024,32(8):881-885.
Liu LJ, Xu D, Yin CY, et al.Advances in metabolomics of childhood obesity[J].Chin J Child Health Care, 2024,32(8):881-885.(in Chinese)
[4] Clevers H.Modeling development and disease with organoids[J].Cell, 2016,165(7):1586-1597.
[5] 王玥, 施慧琳, 靳晨琦, 等.类器官领域发展现状及展望[J].中国生物工程杂志, 2023,43(8):1-10.
Wang Y, Shi HL,Jin CQ, et al.Development status and prospects of organoids[J].China Biotechnology, 2023,43(8):1-10.(in Chinese)
[6] Walter S, Mejia-Guevara I, Estrada K, et al.Association of a genetic risk score with body mass index across different birthcohorts[J].JAMA, 2016,316(1):63-69.
[7] Thota P, Perez-Lopez FR, Benites-Zapata VA, et al.Obesity-related insulin resistance in adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies[J].Gynecol Endocrinol, 2017,33(3):179-184.
[8] Cusi K.Role of obesity and lipotoxicity in the development of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: Pathophysiology and clinical implications[J].Gastroenterology, 2012,142(4):711-725.
[9] Kershaw EE, Flier J S.Adipose tissue as an endocrineorgan[J].J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2004,89(6):2548-2556.
[10] Holloway GP,Bonen A, Spriet LL.Regulation of skeletal muscle mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism in lean and obese individuals[J].Am J Clin Nutr, 2009,89(Suppl 1):455-462.
[11] Petersen MC, Shulman GI.Mechanisms of insulin action and insulin resistance[J].Physiol Rev, 2018, 98(4): 2133-2223.
[12] Barker N, vanEs JH, Kuipers J, et al.Identification of stem cells in small intestine and colon by marker gene Lgr5[J].Nature, 2007, 449(7165): 1003-1007.
[13] Sato T,Vries RG, Snippert HJ, et al.Single Lgr5 stem cells build crypt-villus structures in vitro without a mesenchymal niche[J].Nature, 2009, 459(7244): 262-265.
[14] Cook L, Stahl M, Han X, et al.Suppressive and gut-reparative functions of human type 1 T regulatory cells[J].Gastroenterology, 2019, 157(6): 1584-1598.
[15] Strating E, Verhagen MP, Wensink E, et al.Co-cultures of colon cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts recapitulate the aggressive features of mesenchymal-like colon cancer[J].Front Immunol, 2023, 14: 1053920.
[16] Du Y, Li X,Niu Q, et al.Development of a miniaturized 3D organoid culture platform for ultra-high-throughput screening[J].J Mol Cell Biol, 2020, 12(8): 630-643.
[17] Jattan J, Rodia C, Li D, et al.Using primary murine intestinal enteroids to study dietary TAG absorption, lipoprotein synthesis, and the role of apoC-Ⅲ in the intestine[J].J Lipid Res, 2017, 58(5): 853-865.
[18] Landry J, Bernier D, Ouellet C, et al.Spheroidal aggregate culture of rat liver cells:Histotypic reorganization, biomatrix deposition, and maintenance of functional activities[J].J Cell Biol, 1985, 101(3): 914-923.
[19] Huch M, Dorrell C, Boj SF, et al.In vitro expansion of single Lgr5+ liver stem cells induced by Wnt-driven regeneration[J].Nature, 2013, 494(7436): 247-250.
[20] Huch M, Gehart H, van Boxtel R, et al.Long-term culture of genome-stable bipotent stem cells from adult human liver[J].Cell, 2015, 160(1-2): 299-312.
[21] Wu F, Wu D, Ren Y, et al.Generation of hepatobiliary organoids from human induced pluripotent stem cells[J].JHepatol, 2019, 70(6): 1145-1158.
[22] Ramli M, Lim YS, Koe CT, et al.Human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids as models of liver disease[J].Gastroenterology, 2020, 159(4): 1471-1486.
[23] Bi G, Zhang X, Li W, et al.Modeling alcohol-associated liver disease in humans using adipose stromal or stem cell-derived organoids[J].Cell Rep Methods, 2024, 4(5): 100778.
[24] Leite SB, Roosens T, El TA, et al.Novel human hepatic organoid model enables testing of drug-induced liver fibrosis in vitro[J].Biomaterials, 2016, 78: 1-10.
[25] Broutier L, Mastrogiovanni G, Verstegen MM, et al.Human primary liver cancer-derived organoid cultures for disease modeling and drug screening[J].Nat Med, 2017, 23(12): 1424-1435.
[26] Okumus EB, Boke OB, Turhan SS, et al.From development to future prospects: The adipose tissue & adipose tissue organoids[J].Life Sci, 2024, 351: 122758.
[27] Kang JH,Gimble JM, Kaplan DL.In vitro 3D model for human vascularized adipose tissue[J].Tissue Eng Part A, 2009, 15(8): 2227-2236.
[28] Muller S,Ader I, Creff J, et al.Human adipose stromal-vascular fraction self-organizes to form vascularized adipose tissue in 3D cultures[J].Sci Rep, 2019, 9(1): 7250.
[29] Escudero M, Vaysse L, Eke G, et al.Scalable generation of pre-vascularized and functional human beige adipose organoids[J].Adv Sci, 2023, 10(31): e2301499.
[30] Lorza-Gil E, Strauss OD, Ziegler E, et al.Incretin-responsive human pancreatic adipose tissue organoids: A functional model for fatty pancreas research[J].Mol Metab, 2025, 91: 102067.
[31] Dariolli R, Nir R, Mushlam T, et al.Optimized scaffold-free human 3D adipose tissue organoid culture for obesity and disease modeling[J].SLAS Discov, 2025, 31: 100218.
[32] Armutcu F.Organ crosstalk: The potent roles of inflammation and fibrotic changes in the course of organ interactions[J].Inflamm Res, 2019, 68(10): 825-839.
[33] Zhao Y, Zhao MF, Jiang S, et al.Liver governs adiposeremodelling via extracellular vesicles in response to lipid overload[J].Nat Commun, 2020, 11(1): 719.
[34] Luo XY, Ying SQ, Cao Y, et al.Liver-based inter-organ communication: A diseaseperspective[J].Life Sci, 2024, 351: 122824.
[35] Kuramoto K, Liang H, Hong JH, et al.Exercise-activated hepatic autophagy via the FN1-alpha5beta1 integrin pathway drives metabolic benefits of exercise[J].Cell Metab, 2023, 35(4): 620-632.
[36] Xiang Y, Tanaka Y, Patterson B, et al.Fusion of regionally specified hPSC-derived organoids models human brain development and interneuron migration[J].Cell Stem Cell, 2017, 21(3): 383-398.
[37] Tao T, Deng P, Wang Y, et al.Microengineered multi-organoid system from hiPSCs to recapitulate human liver-islet axis in normal and type 2 diabetes[J].Adv Sci, 2022, 9(5): e2103495.
[38] Lin N, Zhou X,Geng X, et al.Repeated dose multi-drug testing using a microfluidic chip-based coculture of human liver and kidney proximal tubules equivalents[J].Sci Rep, 2020, 10(1): 8879.
[39] Jeon JW, Lee SH, Kim D, et al.In vitro hepatic steatosis model based on gut-liver-on-a-chip[J].Biotechnol Prog, 2021, 37(3): e3121.
[40] 沈钧怡, 欧阳智, 钟健, 等.类器官血管化的研究进展[J].生物医学工程学杂志, 2023,40(04):625-631.
Shen JY, Ouyang Z,Zhong J, et al.Research progress on vascularization of organoids[J].J Biomed Eng, 2023, 40(4): 625-631.(in Chinese)
[41] 马潇菁, 洪子玹, 朱舜天, 等.血管化类器官的构建和研究进展[J].生理科学进展, 2023,54(2):104-109.
Ma XJ, Hong ZX, Zhu ST, et al.The construction and research progress of vascularized organoids[J].Prog Physiol Sci, 2023, 54(2): 104-109.(in Chinese)
[42] 付观双, 陈辉玲, 杨天立, 等.类器官共培养模型的研究进展[J].中国新药杂志, 2024,33(10):996-1001.
Fu GS, Chen HL, Yang TL, et al.Progress in organoid co-culturemodels[J].Chin J New Drugs, 2024, 33(10): 996-1001.(in Chinese)
[43] Yu Y, Sun B, Ye X, et al.Hepatotoxic assessment in amicrophysiological system: Simulation of the drug absorption and toxic process after an overdosed acetaminophen on intestinal-liver-on-chip[J].Food Chem Toxicol, 2024, 193: 115016.
[44] Kaur S, Kaur I,Rawal P, et al.Non-matrigel scaffolds for organoid cultures[J].Cancer Lett, 2021, 504: 58-66.
[45] 陈倩文, 赵思琪, 彭耀进.类器官:技术创新与伦理争议[J].合成生物学, 2024,5(4):898-907.
Chen QW, Zhao SQ, Peng YJ.Organoids: technological innovation and ethicalcontroversies[J].Synth Biol J, 2024, 5(4): 898-907.(in Chinese)
[46] Kim J, Koo B,Knoblich JA.Human organoids: Model systems for human biology and medicine[J].Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 2020, 21(10): 571-584.
[47] Vlachogiannis G, Hedayat S, Vatsiou A, et al.Patient-derived organoids model treatment response of metastatic gastrointestinal cancers[J].Science, 2018, 359(6378): 920-926.
[48] Zhan T,Rindtorff N, Betge J, et al.CRISPR/Cas9 for cancer research and therapy[J].Semin Cancer Biol, 2019, 55: 106-119.
[49] van deWetering M, Francies HE, Francis JM, et al.Prospective derivation of a living organoid biobank of colorectal cancer patients[J].Cell, 2015, 161(4): 933-945.
[50] Yang H, Cheng J, Zhuang H, et al.Pharmacogenomic profiling of intra-tumor heterogeneity using a large organoid biobank of liver cancer[J].Cancer Cell, 2024, 42(4): 535-551.
[51] Yan H, Siu HC, Law S, et al.A comprehensive human gastric cancer organoid biobank captures tumor subtype heterogeneity and enables therapeutic screening[J].Cell Stem Cell, 2018, 23(6): 882-897.
PDF(672 KB)

Accesses

Citation

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/