The power and the promise of organoid models for cancer precision medicine with next-generation functional diagnostics and pharmaceutical exploitation.

Abstract

As organ-specific three-dimensional cell clusters derived from cancer tissue or cancer-specific stem cells, cancer-derived organoids are organized in the same manner of the cell sorting and spatial lineage restriction in vivo, making them ideal for simulating the characteristics of cancer and the heterogeneity of cancer cells in vivo. Besides the applications as a new in vitro model to study the physiological characteristics of normal tissues and organs, organoids are also used for in vivo cancer cell characterization, anti-cancer drug screening, and precision medicine. However, organoid cultures are not without limitations, i.e., the lack of nerves, blood vessels, and immune cells. As a result, organoids could not fully replicate the characteristics of organs but partially simulate the disease process. This review attempts to provide insights into the organoid models for cancer precision medicine.

• Authors: Yu-Shui Ma, Xiao-Li Yang, Rui Xin, Ting-Miao Wu, Yi Shi, Dan Dan Zhang, Hui-Min Wang, Pei-Yao Wang, Ji-Bin Liu, Da Fu
• Journal: Translational oncology (Transl Oncol) Vol. 14 Issue 8 Pg. 101126 (Aug 2021) ISSN: 1936-5233 [Print] United States
• PMID: 34020369 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.