Question: Is this method used nowadays on ill patients?

Eva Rath answered on 20 Jun 2023: last edited 20 Jun 2023 7:12 am

Organoids can be used to find the drug that works best for a patient. One example is cancer. The idea is (and for few patients this has already been done) to surgically remove the tumor and grow organoids from the tumor (breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer…). In the lab, these tumor organoids are treated with different anti-cancer drugs to find the one drug that works best in killing these specific cancer cells. This drug is then given to the patient to kill any cancer cell that might still be in the body. This is called “personalized-medicine”. In the same way, intestinal organoids can be used to find the best treatment for patients with Cystic fibrosis (CF). This disease affects mostly the lungs but is caused by a genetically damaged protein that is also present in the intestine. As the genetic “damage” (mutations) can be on different parts of the protein, each patient needs a differnt drug. Over 2000 mutations of the protein are known to cause CF! In 2015, the first CF patient got a drug based on tests in “his” organoids. Before intestinal organoids were used to find an efficent drug, the patient had to try one drug after the other until he found one that works. Here is more information on organoids and CF: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/pdf/S1934-5909(16)30295-8.pdf