Patient-derived micro-organospheres enable clinical precision oncology

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Biotechnology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and organoids (PDOs) model cancer therapy response but have limitations for timely clinical decisions.
• Current models struggle to provide rapid, actionable insights for precision oncology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, patient-derived model for precision oncology.
• To assess the feasibility of using micro-organospheres (MOSs) to guide clinical treatment decisions.
• To evaluate MOSs as a platform for testing immuno-oncology (IO) therapies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized droplet emulsion microfluidics for rapid generation of thousands of micro-organospheres (MOSs) from low-volume patient tissues.
• Implemented temperature control and dead-volume minimization in the microfluidic system.
• Conducted a clinical study with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to assess drug response using the MOS pipeline.

Main Results:

• MOSs were rapidly generated from patient tissues, serving as an ideal model for precision oncology.
• The MOS-based pipeline reliably assessed tumor drug response within 14 days for metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.
• MOSs successfully captured stromal cells and allowed T cell penetration, enabling testing of immuno-oncology (IO) therapies.

Conclusions:

• Micro-organospheres (MOSs) offer a rapid and effective patient-derived model for clinical precision oncology.
• The MOS platform provides a clinically relevant timeline for guiding cancer treatment decisions.
• MOSs are a valuable tool for evaluating the efficacy of immuno-oncology (IO) therapies, including PD-1 blockade and T cell therapies.