# Primary hepatocyte and engineered iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cell transplantation to treat alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiencyassociated liver disease

> **NIH NIH F31** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · 2024 · $27,783

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is a genetic disease most commonly caused by the Z point mutation in
the SERPINA1 gene, resulting in misfolded Z-AAT protein polymerization in hepatocytes, cell death, and often
cirrhosis. Replacement of ZZ with wild type MM hepatocytes via liver transplantation is the only available cure
for AATD liver disease. However, organs for transplant are in short supply and transplantation comes with risk
of graft rejection. Hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs), derived from AATD patient induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
after gene editing of the Z mutation, could provide an unlimited supply of autologous M-AAT producing cells for
transplantation without the burden of rejection. Yet, poor engraftment of HLCs remains a critical gap that
must be addressed before iPSC-based therapy can be made available to AATD patients suffering from
severe liver disease.
 The goal of this proposal is to fill this gap by promoting iPSC-derived HLC survival, proliferation and
maturation, key features for cell engraftment, to treat the AATD associated liver disease of the NSG-PiZ
transgenic mouse model. To do so, we will employ AATD patient-specific iPSCs that have been gene edited
from ZZ to MM. These MM iPSCs will be engineered to make MM HLCs that express physiological levels of the
2 key known hepatocyte mitogen receptors, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor, cMET, and epidermal
growth factor (EGF) receptor, EGFR, as well as 3 transcription factors known to be critical for hepatocyte
maturation, ATF5, PROX1, and CEBPA, using a timely controlled doxycycline inducible piggyBac transposon
system. The receptors, cMET and EGFR, will be activated using the corresponding ligands, HGF and EGF,
delivered via intravenous injection of nucleoside-modified mRNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-
LNP), a non-integrative and safe technology that our lab has recently established to treat various liver diseases.
Our preliminary data support the feasibility of this project and are summarized as follows: (1) We have built the
transcriptional units of the doxycycline-inducible piggyBac platform, and we expect to complete the platform and
start engineering hiPSC lines when the award will be initiated; (2) We showed that diseased hepatocytes in NSG-
PiZ mice are efficiently transfected with mRNA-LNPs, validating the mRNA-LNP tool to deliver mitogens in the
liver of these mice; (3) We showed that HGF+EGF mRNA-LNP treatment enhances transplanted control primary
human hepatocyte engraftment and also improves, albeit transiently, HLC survival after transplantation into
NSG-PiZ mice. This leaves room for improvement, the goal of the present application. Thus, our central
hypothesis is: Activation of the mitogen HGF/cMET and EGF/EGFR axes in combination with expression of 3
key hepatocyte maturation factors ATF5, PROX1, and CEBPA will lead to successful HLC therapy for AATD
liver disease. Importantly, this project will pioneer the use of mRNA...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10806974
- **Project number:** 5F31DK135378-02
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** Anna R. Smith
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $27,783
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-02-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10806974

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10806974, Primary hepatocyte and engineered iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cell transplantation to treat alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiencyassociated liver disease (5F31DK135378-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10806974. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*