Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2021, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (25): 4082-4088.doi: 10.12307/2021.024

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Culture, research and application of patient-derived tumor organoids

Feng Ziyi, Liang Shanshan, Yu Weiting, Wang Ruoyu   

  1. Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory for High Throughput Screening and Targeted Drug Transformation of Molecular Markers of Breast and Digestive Tumors, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, Liaoning Province, China
  • Received:2020-07-11 Revised:2020-07-14 Accepted:2020-09-05 Online:2021-09-08 Published:2021-03-30
  • Contact: Yu Weiting, MD, Researcher, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory for High Throughput Screening and Targeted Drug Transformation of Molecular Markers of Breast and Digestive Tumors, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, Liaoning Province, China Wang Ruoyu, MD, Chief physician, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory for High Throughput Screening and Targeted Drug Transformation of Molecular Markers of Breast and Digestive Tumors, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, Liaoning Province, China
  • About author:Feng Ziyi, Master candidate, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory for High Throughput Screening and Targeted Drug Transformation of Molecular Markers of Breast and Digestive Tumors, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, Liaoning Province, China
  • Supported by:
    Dalian Medical Science Research Project, No. 1811113 (to YWT)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Tumor organoids provide the foundation for tumor biology research, screening and development of new tumor drugs, and precision individual medicine, with the advantages of high-throughput, high efficiency, and closer to the biological role of tumors in vivo.
OBJECTIVE: This article systematically reviews the development and new progress of patient-derived tumor organoids, prospect the application direction and value of tumor organoids in the future, so as to provide the characteristic panorama of tumor organoids for researchers in related fields. 
METHODS: In databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Springer, and CNKI, the literature related to tumor organoids and patient-derived organoids was searched using the keywords of “Tumor/cancer organoids, Organoids, Cancer research, Three-dimensional culture, Cancer stem cell” in English and Chinese, respectively. Both clinical and basic researches were summarized from February 2017 to February 2020.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Tumor organoids can make up for the shortcomings of tumor research based on traditional cell lines, and are more reliable in the in vitro models for tumor research. According to different tumor types and patients’ own conditions, it is possible to select tumor cells from different sources to construct tumor organoids. Optimizing culture conditions by adding cytokines and biological materials is the key to tumor organoid culture. The patient-derived tumor organoids highly retain tumor heterogeneity, so that they can provide a more realistic and reliable platform for tumor biology research, new drug screening and precision medicine. However, patient-derived tumor organoids cannot fully reproduce the tumor microenvironment, such as lack of vascular support, nerve-humoral regulation, and immune cells function, so they cannot fully reflect changes in tumor progress, but co-culture and techniques can provide support for simulating the tumor microenvironment.

Key words: tumor organoids, organoids culture, new drug screening research and development, precision medicine

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