Organoids in breast cancer translational research: intersection of technologies

Breast cancer has a high incidence and high heterogeneity among women worldwide, but its lack of highly consistent in vitro research models has limited the translation of experimental results into clinical applications. The emergence of tumor organoids in the new era has aroused great interest among scientists. Organoids possess multi-omics characteristics highly preserved from parental tumors and offer advantages such as long-term and stable passaging and visualization in vitro. Thus, they have overcome multiple defects of two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures and patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). However, the lack of inter-organoid homogeneity, vascular-like fluid system and complex microenvironment has affected their wider applications, making it urgent to introduce new approaches for developing a more comprehensive functionality of this model. In recent years, the combination of tumor organoids with other innovative technologies has provided some relevantly important solutions and made it an optimal high-throughput and high-fidelity in vitro model. Here, we provide an overview of the development and optimization of breast cancer organoids, discuss how they have been integrated with several emerging technologies, and further summarize their applications in functional precision oncology. We believe that the intersection of new technologies has great potential in breast cancer translational research, which may finally provide new insights into organoid-guided breast cancer diagnosis and individualized treatment.