Vessel Organoids Reveal FOXF1 Variant-Specific Regulation of Mesoderm and Capillary Development

How allelic variants in lineage-regulating transcription factors drive diverging human developmental outcomes remains poorly understood. This is partly due to the lack of human model systems. Here, we used vessel organoids from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to resolve variant-specific functions of Forkhead Box F1 (FOXF1), a critical regulator of mesoderm and vascular development. Using three patient-derived hiPSC lines harboring unique FOXF1 variants, we show that heterozygous variants cause capillary maldevelopment of varying severity. Single-nucleus multiomic analysis revealed variant-specific mechanisms – a severe variant impairs differentiation of nascent mesoderm to lateral plate mesoderm and disrupts vascular progenitor specification, while moderate variants permit mesoderm differentiation but rewire vascular progenitor states and function. Restoration of wild-type FOXF1 via lipid nanoparticle-mediated mRNA delivery rescued capillary formation in a variant- and developmental-stage-dependent manner. Together, these findings demonstrate that different variants disrupt stage-specific FOXF1 functions in human mesoderm-to-vascular development, underscoring the importance of variant-specific therapeutic strategies.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Human vessel organoids reveal variant-specific roles of FOXF1 in mesoderm patterning and capillary development.

• Severe FOXF1 variant c.253T>A (p.F85I) impairs nascent mesoderm-to-lateral plate mesoderm differentiation and disrupts vascular progenitor specification.

• ‘Moderate’ FOXF1 variants differentially rewire endothelial and mural progenitor cell states and function.

• Lipid nanoparticle-mediated FOXF1 mRNA delivery rescues capillary formation in a variant- and developmental-stage-dependent manner.