Gene

Cell biology

Organoid

Biology

Endocrinology

Stem cell

Computational biology

Genetics

Embryonic stem cell

Internal medicine

Rescue therapy

Hormone

Medicine

Thyroid

Nature Communications

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.

Transplantable human thyroid organoids generated from embryonic stem cells to rescue hypothyroidism