Organoids: Current Implications and Pharmaceutical Applications in Liver Diseases

Understanding organogenesis, disorders, and repairing processes is particularly important for understanding the disease occurrence and developing treatment approaches. At present, liver-related studies are mainly conducted using in vivo models and cell lines, making it difficult to generalize the full picture of the structural characteristics and functions of human organs. Organoid is a three-dimensional (3D) culture system in vitro, which holds the promise to establish various disease models and conduct in-depth research by generating organ-like tissues in a dish. Recent advances in human liver organoids have provided a deeper understanding of this complex organ. In this review, we provide a systematic overview of the construction methods of organoids, focusing on their applications in the hepatic organogenesis and various liver disease models, as well as the limitations of current models. The development of organoid models is proving to be crucial in future liver research.