Three Dimensional Models of Endocrine Organs and Target Tissues Regulated by the Endocrine System

Abstract

Immortalized cell lines originating from tumors and cultured in monolayers in vitro display consistent behavior and response, and generate reproducible results across laboratories. However, for certain endpoints, these cell lines behave quite differently from the original solid tumors. Thereby, the homogeneity of immortalized cell lines and two-dimensionality of monolayer cultures deters from the development of new therapies and translatability of results to the more complex situation in vivo. Organoids originating from tissue biopsies and spheroids from cell lines mimic the heterogeneous and multidimensional characteristics of tumor cells in 3D structures in vitro. Thus, they have the advantage of recapitulating the more complex tissue architecture of solid tumors. In this review, we discuss recent efforts in basic and preclinical cancer research to establish methods to generate organoids/spheroids and living biobanks from endocrine tissues and target organs under endocrine control while striving to achieve solutions in personalized medicine.

Keywords: adrenal; breast; endocrine organs; neuroendocrine neoplasia; organoids; ovaries; pancreas; pituitary; prostate; spheroids; thyroid.

Figure 1

Applications for organoids from normal and cancerous tissue from the various endocrine glands discussed in this review. Created with BioRender.com.

Figure 2

Generating organoids from patient biopsies of healthy or cancerous tissue, or spheroids from immortalized cell lines. Biopsies are dissociated and organoids are generated using the illustrated methods. They are then collected and used for high-throughput screening of individual therapies for each patient. Created with BioRender.com.