Capillary malformation (CM) is a condition people are born with that affects blood vessels in the skin, mouth, eyes, and brain. Scientists have had a hard time studying CM and testing new medicines because they didn’t have good models to work with in the lab.

In this study, researchers created tiny lab‑grown blood vessel structures called vascular organoids (VOs). They made these by using special stem cells from CM patients and turning them into the types of cells that form blood vessels. These cells then naturally came together to form small branching vessel networks.

The VOs made from CM patient cells had more blood‑vessel‑forming cells and longer vessel branches than VOs made from healthy people’s cells. This means the CM VOs more closely mimic the disease.

This study is the first to create a VO model that reflects what happens in CM, giving scientists a new tool to better understand the condition and test possible treatments.

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Vascular Organoids Derived from Capillary malformation-induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Exhibit Disease-Relevant Phenotypes. Nguyen V, Harper A, Azuero M, Castellanos I, He S, Hochman ML, Wenceslau CF, Chen DB, Jegga AG, Wang Y, Fan D, Nelson JS, Tan W. Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2026 Jan;22(1):668-675. doi: 10.1007/s12015-025-10984-8. Epub 2025 Sep 25. PMID: 40996655