Organoids

There is a new method that can test hundreds of drugs on mini tumors grown from patient’s own cells. In San Diego, they are collection cancer cells from patients and growing them into 3D mini tumors and may make it possible to quickly screen large numbers of potential drugs for rare cancers. There has been some success with a new approach that is guiding the treatment decisions for some patients with recurring cancers. The method was shown to work on various kinds of ovarian cancer. The lab-grown organoids copied how the tumors in the body look and behave. Of the eight total drugs that that organoids were able to find that worked, four were CDK inhibitors. This is telling of the fact that these screens can be useful in identifying tumors that won’t respond to conventional therapy.