Characteristics of chemically induced liver progenitors derived from a pig model of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

We previously reported the efficacy of chemically induced liver progenitors (CLiP) as a source of cells for transplantation in patients with liver disease. This study aimed to characterize CLiP derived from steatotic livers using a pig model for future clinical applications. Livers were removed from miniature pigs with diet-induced steatosis and normal livers by laparoscopic hepatectomy. Mature hepatocytes (MH) isolated from the livers of each group were cultured in differentiation medium composed of Y-27632, A-83-01, and CHIR99021 (YAC medium). The characteristics of CLiP, including liver-specific function, proliferative capacity in vivo, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) production, were evaluated. Although CLiP in both groups expressed hepatic progenitor cell markers (Epithelial cell adhesion molecule and Trophoblast cell surface antigen 2), the proliferative potential was higher for the disease group than the healthy group. In contrast, markers of functional MH after re-differentiation were only detected in the healthy group. Both groups showed high cell viability and the ability to differentiate into albumin-positive cells in vivo. EVs counts were lower in disease-derived CLiP than in the normal group; however, there were no differences in microRNA expression within EVs. Using a pig model, CLiP was successfully produced from a liver that reproduced steatotic liver disease. Although there were slightly fewer EVs from CLiP in the disease group than in the normal liver group, the in vivo proliferative capacity of CLiP was high. Therefore, CLiP induced in the steatotic liver are a promising source for cell therapy in patients with liver disease.