Patient’s organoids predict response to chemotherapy

The organoid-based test, developed by the group of Emile Voest at Netherland’s Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, in a prospective clinical trial correctly predicted responses in 80% of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated with irinotecan chemotherapy without misclassifying patients who benefited from the chemotherapy. Patient-derived organoids, however, failed to predict outcome for treatment with 5-fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin. Thus, its medical utility is limited to stratification of patients for irinotecan chemotherapy, in a stage of tumour development that cannot be cured.

Specifically, the researchers collected samples from 61 patients with mCRC and used the tissue to generate three-dimensional tissue cultures, which they treated with irinotecan either alone or in combination with the chemotherapy 5-Fluorouracil. The organoids, which could be generated and screened within 21 days generally reflected how the patients responded to the treatments.