Tumor Organoids Used to Speed Cancer Treatment
Reporter: Irina Robu, PhD
Collecting cancer cells from patients and growing them into 3-D mini tumors could make it possible to quickly screen large numbers of potential drugs for ultra-rare cancers. Preliminary success with a new high-speed, high-volume approach is already guiding treatment decisions for some patients with recurring hard-to-treat cancers.
A London-based team labelled how a “tumor-in-a-dish” approach positively forecasted drug responses in cancer patients who previously took part in clinical trials. That study was a major development in a new research area focused on “organoids” — tiny 3-D versions of the brain, gut, lung and other organs grown in the lab to probe basic biology or test drugs.
UCLA cancer biologist Alice Soragni and her colleagues developed a high-volume, automated method to rapidly study drug responses in tumor organoids grown from patient cells. By studying mini tumors grown on a plate with 96 tiny test tubes, her team can screen hundreds of compounds at once and classify promising candidates within a time frame that is therapeutically actionable. According to Dr. Soragni, the method seemed to work for various kinds of ovarian cancer. It was shown that the lab-grown organoids mimicked how tumors in the body look and behave. And even in cases when mini tumors had a hard time growing in a dish, scientists still acknowledged potential drug candidates.
Up to now, the UCLA team has produced organoids from 35 to 40 people with various types of sarcoma which will allow them to classify tumors that won’t respond to conventional therapy. This proves useful for people with recurrent metastases, where it’s not clear if we’re doing anything for their overall survival or giving them more toxicity.
Source
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tumor-organoids-may-speed-cancer-treatment
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