News Releases & Research Results Generating functional hypothalamic-pituitary units from human iPS cells: Contribution to regenerative medicine and disease study

Results of a collaborative research and development conducted by Visiting Researcher Takatoshi Kasai, Associate Professor Hidetaka Suga, and Professor Hiroshi Arima of Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine.

• A method was successfully established to generate pituitary hormone-releasing cells from human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
• A tissue which includes pituitary hormone-releasing cells and hypothalamic* hormone-releasing cells (hypothalamic-pituitary unit) was also successfully generated.
  * Hypothalamus is the central area controlling endocrine secretion and autonomic nervous function. It plays an important role in controlling various biological process, such as body temperature, sleep, and appetite.
• The results of this R&D will help in progressing studies aiming at realization of regenerative medicine for hypopituitary patients and will provide support for pathological studies of diseases related to the pituitary gland and hypothalamus.

This R&D was conducted with the support of Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine by AMED.

The results were published in the English journal, Cell Reports, on January 8.

Kasai T., et al. Hypothalamic Contribution to Pituitary Functions is Recapitulated in vitro Using 3D-cultured Human iPS Cells Cell Reports
DOI：10.1016/j.celrep.2019.12.009