The future of tumor organoids in precision therapy

Abstract

Tumoroids are cultures of patient-derived tumor cells, which are grown in 3D in the presence of an extracellular matrix extract and specific growth factors. Tumoroids can be generated from adult as well as pediatric cancers, including epithelial cancers, sarcomas, and brain cancers. Tumoroids retain multi-omic characteristics of their corresponding tumor and recapitulate interpatient and intratumor heterogeneity. Retrospective and prospective studies have demonstrated that tumoroids predict patient responses to anticancer therapies, making them a promising tool for precision oncology. However, several challenges remain before tumoroids can be fully integrated into clinical decision-making, including success rates of tumoroid establishment and turnaround times. This review discusses the current advances, challenges, and future directions of tumoroid-based models in cancer research and precision therapy.