Clinical Translation of Patient-Derived Organoids: Perspectives for Personalized Therapy in Cancer

Patient-derived organoids (PDO) are accelerating precision medicine. These biological platforms allow for the autologous in vitro expansion of material from cancer patients in a considerably short period of time. These three-dimensional models can faithfully recapitulate aspects of tissue heterogeneity, architecture, and relevant cellular functions. Based on these characteristics, there has been a growing interest in exploring the potential of these models for translational research, as is the case with colorectal, pancreatic, prostate, breast, lung, and bladder cancer, among other solid tumors. A key application of cancer-specific organoids is the development of patient-matched platforms for drug testing, thus bringing the hype of personalized medicine closer to clinical practice. Over the past decade, clinical trials based on organoid-guided drug screening have been conducted in several cancer models with promising results. Nonetheless, further progress is still needed in this field, as there are still few studies that rigorously apply the results of real-time PDO tests to assist in clinical decision-making. In this review, we provide a focused synthesis of the most relevant clinical trials using PDO as well as their application for biobanking.