Hypothesis: Colony-forming activity of pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells for stem cell assay

Abstract

Many drugs have the potential to induce the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes, particularly cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4). Hepatocytes are often employed to evaluate drug-mediated CYP3A4 induction, but the variation between different cell lots is an issue that needs to be solved. Only a limited number of immortalized hepatocyte cell lines have been reported to date. In this study, we describe the successful generation of hepatocytes from disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from a patient with fulminant hepatitis (FH-iPSCs). To examine the CYP3A4 induction potential, FH-iPSCs were induced into hepatocytes. Drug-mediated induction testing revealed that HepaKI exhibited a 57.2-fold increase in CYP3A4 after exposure to rifampicin, relative to control cells. These results suggest that FH-iPSCs are a preferred cell source for in vitro CYP3A4 induction assays.