Patient-Derived Organoids for Precision Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized the way tumors are treated. Nevertheless, efficient and robust testing platforms are still missing, including clinically relevant human ex vivo tumor assays that allow pretreatment testing of cancer therapies and selection of the most efficient and safe therapy for a specific patient. In the case of immunotherapy, this testing platform would require not only cancer cells, but also the tumor microenvironment, including immune cells. Here, we discuss the applications of patient-derived tumor organoid cultures and the possibilities in using complex immune-organoid cultures to provide preclinical testing platforms for precision cancer immunotherapy.

Figure 1. A) Current applications of tumor-derived organoids. B) Complex immune organoids can be used as platforms to test immunotherapies and include tumor stroma, immune cells and vasculature in addition to tumor tissue. Organoids cultures in microfluidic devices provide flow and structure and permit the combination of different organoid types. Organoid interactions with the surrounding tissue and vasculature can also be provided by the engraftment of organoids into tissue like the chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM).