Immortal spheroids were generated from fetal mouse intestine using the culture system initially developed to culture organoids from adult intestinal epithelium. Spheroid proportion progressively decreases from fetal to postnatal period, with a corresponding increase in production of organoids. Like organoids, spheroids show Wnt-dependent indefinite self-renewing properties but display a poorly differentiated phenotype reminiscent of incompletely caudalized progenitors. The spheroid transcriptome is strikingly different from that of adult intestinal stem cells, with minimal overlap of Wnt target gene expression. The receptor LGR4, but not LGR5, is essential for their growth. Trop2/Tacstd2 and Cnx43/Gja1, two markers highly enriched in spheroids, are expressed throughout the embryonic-day-14 intestinal epithelium. Comparison of in utero and neonatal lineage tracing using Cnx43-CreER and Lgr5-CreERT2 mice identified spheroid-generating cells as developmental progenitors involved in generation of the prenatal intestinal epithelium. Ex vivo, spheroid cells have the potential to differentiate into organoids, qualifying as a fetal type of intestinal stem cell.

Gene inactivation of the orphan G protein-coupled receptorLGR4, a paralogue of the epithelial-stem-cell marker LGR5, results in a 50% decrease in epithelial cell proliferation and an 80% reduction in terminal differentiation of Paneth cells in postnatal mouse intestinal crypts. When cultured ex vivo, LGR4-deficient crypts or progenitors, but not LGR5-deficient progenitors, die rapidly with marked downregulation of stem-cell markers and Wnt target genes, including Lgr5. Partial rescue of this phenotype is achieved by addition of LiCl to the culture medium, but not Wnt agonists. Our results identify LGR4 as a permissive factor in the Wnt pathway in the intestine and, as such, as a potential target for intestinal cancer therapy.

The orphan Leucine-rich repeat G protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5/GPR49), a target of Wnt signaling, is a marker of adult intestinal stem cells (SC). However, neither its function in the adults, nor during development of the intestine have been addressed yet. In this report, we investigated the role of LGR5 during ileal development by using LGR5 null/LacZ-NeoR knock-in mice. X-gal staining experiments showed that, after villus morphogenesis, Lgr5 expression becomes restricted to dividing cells clustered in the intervillus region and is more pronounced in the distal small intestine. At day E18.5, LGR5 deficiency leads to premature Paneth cell differentiation in the small intestine without detectable effects on differentiation of other cell lineages, nor on epithelial cell proliferation or migration. Quantitative RT-PCR experiments showed that expression from the LGR5 promoter was upregulated in LGR5-null mice, pointing to the existence of an autoregulatory negative feedback loop in intact animals. This deregulation was associated with overexpression of Wnt target genes in the intervillus epithelium. Transcriptional profiling of mutant mice ileums revealed that LGR5 function is associated with expression of SC and SC niche markers. Together, our data identify LGR5 as a negative regulator of the Wnt pathway in the developing intestine.

Mouse fetal intestinal progenitors lining the epithelium prior to villogenesis grow as spheroids when cultured ex vivo and express the transmembrane glycoprotein Trop2 as a marker. Here, we report the characterization of Trop2-expressing cells from fetal pre-glandular stomach, growing as immortal undifferentiated spheroids, and their relationship with gastric development and regeneration. Trop2+ cells generating gastric spheroids differed from adult glandular Lgr5+ stem cells, but appeared highly related to fetal intestinal spheroids. Although they shared a common spheroid signature, intestinal and gastric fetal spheroid-generating cells expressed organ-specific transcription factors and were committed to intestinal and glandular gastric differentiation, respectively. Trop2 expression was transient during glandular stomach development, being lost at the onset of gland formation, whereas it persisted in the squamous forestomach. Undetectable under homeostasis, Trop2 was strongly re-expressed in glands after acute Lgr5+ stem cell ablation or following indomethacin-induced injury. These highly proliferative reactive adult Trop2+ cells exhibited a transcriptome displaying similarity with that of gastric embryonic Trop2+ cells, suggesting that epithelium regeneration in adult stomach glands involves the partial re-expression of a fetal genetic program.

Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA (MPS-IIIA) is a lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) caused by inherited defect of sulfamidase, a lysosomal sulfatase. MPS-IIIA is one of the most common and severe forms of LSDs with CNS involvement. Presently there is no cure. Here we have developed a new gene delivery approach for the treatment of MPS-IIIA based on the use of a modified version of sulfamidase expression cassette. This cassette encodes both a chimeric sulfamidase containing an alternative signal peptide (sp) to improve enzyme secretion and sulfatase-modifying factor 1 (SUMF1) to increase sulfamidase post-translational activation rate. We demonstrate that improved secretion and increased activation of sulfamidase act synergistically to enhance enzyme biodistribution in wild-type (WT) pigs upon intrathecal adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9)-mediated gene delivery. Translating such gene delivery strategy to a mouse model of MPS-IIIA results in a rescue of brain pathology, including memory deficit, as well as improvement in somatic tissues. These data may pave the way for developing effective gene delivery replacement protocols for the treatment of MPS-IIIA patients.