Cancer Organoids

Tumor organoids will accelerate cancer treatment

Vladimir Guillen, Naked Science

Obtaining cancer cells from patients and growing them into three-dimensional mini-tumors made it possible to quickly test a large number of drugs for ultra-rare cancers. Success with the ultra-fast and high-volume approach is already yielding results in the case of some patients with recurrent cancer that does not respond well to treatment. The report on the work done was presented by biologist Alice Soragny at the meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology and the European Organization of Molecular Biology (Modeling rare cancers using patient-derived tumor organoids).

In one case, Soragni and her colleagues tested 430 compounds on mini-tumors grown from cells obtained from a boy with bone cancer. Eight of them led to the death of 75% of cells in mini-tumors – they included drugs that are not usually used for this type of cancer.

Earlier this year, a team of scientists from London described how the "tumours in vitro" approach helped successfully predict drug responses in cancer patients who had previously participated in clinical trials. This study was an important development in the field of "organoids" – small three-dimensional versions of the brain, intestines, lungs and other organs grown in the laboratory for basic biology research or drug testing.

Soragni and colleagues have developed a high-volume automated method for quickly studying the reaction of tumor organoids grown from patients' cells to drugs. Using mini-tumors grown on a plate with 96 tube-shaped tanks, the team can test hundreds of compounds simultaneously and identify promising candidates within one to two weeks.  

The method proved to be effective in the case of different types of ovarian cancer. The organoids grown in the laboratory imitated the behavior and appearance of tumors in the body. Even when it was difficult for mini-tumors to grow in a test tube, scientists could still identify potentially effective drugs.

Soragni's team then tried to apply this method to sarcoma, a rare group of particularly intractable tumors that form in bones or connective tissues and often spread to the lungs. The work also showed positive results.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru