Abstract 4243: Revolutionizing cancer research, new drug screening approach with vascularized cancer organoid platform mimicking patient tumor microenvironment

Abstract

Abstract Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) are improving our understanding of cancer heterogeneity and personalized medicine. In particular, patients' intrinsic and acquired treatment resistance is being evaluated with PDOs, which has become an essential factor in developing new anticancer drugs and designing successful clinical trials. However, there are obstacles to cancer heterogeneity and patient-specific cancer therapy due to lack of understanding of tumoral diversity resulting from the tumor microenvironment (TME). Complex direct and indirect interactions between various types of TME cells and the resulting tumoral diversity are challenges that must be addressed for customized cancer therapy. Standard cancer therapy targets tumor cells without considering possible damage on the tumor microenvironment that could impair therapy response. Therefore, the construction and analysis of a platform for co-culturing cancer organoids with other cell types that make up the TME over a long period of time is necessary. We generated and performed characterization of blood vessel organoid (BVO). The BVO expressed endothelial marker CD31 and pericyte marker PDGFRβ. We attempted to co-culture with patient-derived lung cancer organoid (LCO) on Matrigel by dissociating the constructed BVO, and it was confirmed that BVO and LCO were interconnected after 10 days. This new platform was treated with Gefitinib and Poziotinib, and after 5 days of drug treatment, the IC50 value increased compared to LCO-only culture. Additionally, flow cytometry analysis confirmed that co-culturing with BVO during drug treatment resulted in a lower percentage of dead LCO cells compared to LCO-only culture. Image-based analysis also verified that co-culturing with blood vessels enhances the viability of LCOs when treated with drugs. Taken together, the co-culture of cancer organoids and BVOs present a platform that closely mimics the in vivo TME compared to the existing cancer organoid culture method. This innovative platform demonstrates higher drug resistance than existing approaches, offering a novel method for drug screening. Citation Format: Mingyun Lee, Yeo-Joon Yoon, Yong-Soo Lee, Jinguen Rheey. Revolutionizing cancer research, new drug screening approach with vascularized cancer organoid platform mimicking patient tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 4243.