Courtesy of Soragni Laboratory/UCLA
Left: Three different types of sarcoma tumors. Right: Organoids created by UCLA researchers from those tumor cells.
Researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have used cells from sarcoma patients to develop the largest collection of lab-grown 3D mini-tumors, or "organoids," to better understand this rare cancer and identify therapies most likely to work for each individual patient.
Their approach is detailed in the most recent issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Sarcomas, which develop in the bones and soft tissues, account for less than 1% of cancers but have a high mortality rate, particularly for young people. The rarity and diversity of sarcomas — there are more than 100 subtypes — make them particularly difficult to study. And patients' responses to conventional therapies vary widely, making finding the most effective approach for each person "akin to searching for a needle in a haystack," said the study's senior author, Alice Soragni.
How do cancer organoids work?
By using a person's own tumor cells, scientists create smaller 3D versions of their tumors in the lab, generally within a week. These organoids mimic the function and key characteristics of a person's individual tumor and can be used to quickly test hundreds of potential drugs.
The investigators assembled a biobank of 294 samples from 126 UCLA patients diagnosed with 25 different sarcoma subtypes and successfully created organoids from over 110 samples. They then subjected these organoids to high-throughput drug screening using the mini-ring pipeline developed by Soragni and her team.
Identifying potential treatments
The team was able to identify at least one potentially effective U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved treatment for 59% of the samples tested. Additionally, they found the drug responses observed in the lab matched how the patients themselves responded to treatment for a small number of cases, suggesting that these organoids could be a powerful tool for guiding clinical decisions.
