Applying patient personalized organoid model system to understand complex GI manifestations in cystic fibrosis disease

Abstract

Background: Stem cell-derived organotypic culture has become a revolutionary tool in transforming care for patients with multiple GI-disorders. Cystic fibrosis is a deadly genetic disorder with multiple GI complications, such as Distal intestinal obstruction syndrome (DIOS), chronic constipation, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and in some cases pancreatitis, caused by loss of function mutations in the gene that encodes for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride/bicarbonate ion channel. Due to genetic and environmental influences, CF patients exhibit large phenotypic variation. These factors make clinical trials difficult and largely impractical due to limited and heterogenous patient pools, and additionally, the benefit of approved small-molecule CF therapy in a large number of rare mutation patients is not known. Moreover, critical questions of whether CFTR contributes to the development of intestine and how it contributes to GI-related issues remain unanswered. Results: In this study, we performed a comprehensive bench-side study using in vitro patient enteroids and in vivo mice implanted Human Intestinal Organoids (HIOs) to test highly effective CFTR modulators -Ivacaftor response for a rare CF mutation patient. Based on the positive Ivacaftor response in the enteroids, the patient was enrolled in N=1 clinical trial and showed improved GI outcomes upon Ivacaftor treatment. HIO implantation model allowed in vivo modulator dosing and provided an elegant human organ-based demonstration of bench-to-bedside testing of modulator effects. Additionally, using the CF HIO model the role of CFTR function in the maturation of human intestine was reported for the first time. In HIOs derived from a stop mutation CF patient and CFTR-corrected HIOs as control, we performed single cell RNAseq analysis to generate a molecular map of GI-cell type specific transcriptomic alterations and identify key targetable pathways relevant to stop mutations in CFTR for which currently there is no small molecule therapy. Conclusion: In all, we demonstrate that these models effectively serve to translate data from the lab to the clinic and back so that patient specific therapies could be validated, or new therapies be devised. Additionally, single-cell RNA sequencing in patient HIOs will provide useful insights into cell population specific and transcriptomic level alterations that are associated with abnormalities in GI function in CF. Nothing to disclose This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.