Establishment and Maintenance of Human CRC-Derived Organoids for PcG Studies

In the recent years, the establishment of self-organizing 3D cultures (organoids) generated from human primary tissues added a novel and physiological viewpoint to interrogate basic and pathological matters. Indeed, these 3D mini-organs, contrary to cell lines, faithfully reproduce the architecture and the molecular features of their original tissues. In cancer studies, the use of tumor patient-derived organoids (PDOs), capturing the histological and molecular heterogeneity of "pure" cancer cells, offered the opportunity to deeply explore tumor-specific regulatory networks. Accordingly, the study of polycomb group proteins (PcGs) can take advantage from this versatile technology to thoroughly investigate the molecular activity of these master regulators. In particular, the application of chromatin immunoprecipitations (ChIP)-sequencing (ChIP-seq) analyses to organoid models provides a powerful tool toward an accurate inquiry of PcG role in tumor development and maintenance.