Abstract
Cancer is a major health problem and a leading cause of death worldwide. Early cancer detection and continuous changes in treatment strategies have improved overall patient survival. The recent development of targeted drugs offers new opportunities for personalized cancer treatment. Nevertheless, individualized treatment is accompanied by the need for biomarkers predicting the response of a patient to a certain drug. One of the most promising breakthroughs in recent years that might help to overcome this problem is the organoid technology. Organoid cultures exhibit self-renewal capacity, self-organization, and long-term proliferation, while recapitulating many aspects of their primary tissue. Generated patient-derived organoid (PDO) libraries constitute “living” biobanks, allowing the in-depth analysis of tissue function, development, tumor initiation, and cancer pathobiology. Organoids can be derived from all gastrointestinal tissues, including esophageal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, small intestinal and colorectal tissues, and cancers of these tissues. PDOs are amenable to various techniques, including sequencing analyses, drug screening, targeted therapy testing, tumor microenvironment studies, and genetic engineering capabilities. In this review, we discuss the different applications of gastrointestinal organoids in basic cancer biology and clinical translation.
Highlights
In recent decades, our knowledge of the origin and progression of cancer has increased tremendously
FUTURE PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSION Organoid cultures of various cancers revealed to have a great impact on cancer research with widespread usage in basic and translational cancer research
Collections of patient-derived organoid (PDO), constituting living biobanks containing a broad spectrum of different molecular and histological subtypes of a certain cancer entity, are thought to help with identifying patient subgroups that should respond to newly developed drugs or repurposing existing drugs
Summary
Gastrointestinal cancer organoids—applications in basic and translational cancer research. The recent development of targeted drugs offers new opportunities for personalized cancer treatment. Individualized treatment is accompanied by the need for biomarkers predicting the response of a patient to a certain drug. Generated patient-derived organoid (PDO) libraries constitute “living” biobanks, allowing the in-depth analysis of tissue function, development, tumor initiation, and cancer pathobiology. Organoids can be derived from all gastrointestinal tissues, including esophageal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, small intestinal and colorectal tissues, and cancers of these tissues. PDOs are amenable to various techniques, including sequencing analyses, drug screening, targeted therapy testing, tumor microenvironment studies, and genetic engineering capabilities. We discuss the different applications of gastrointestinal organoids in basic cancer biology and clinical translation.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
