Novel Patient-Derived Colorectal Cancer Organoid Platform For Automated High-Throughput Drug Discovery Applications

By Angeline Lim, Jason Baade, Aditya Katiyar, Prathyushakrishna Macha, Zhisong Tong, Oksana Sirenko, and Elizabeth Fraser, Molecular Devices

This content is brought to you by Molecular Devices, a Danaher Operating Company.

Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) are emerging as a highly promising tool in the field of drug discovery, which offers the potential to significantly reduce pipeline attrition. These tumor organoids are essentially miniature, multicellular replicas of three-dimensional tumors, and they have been shown to retain the characteristics of the original in vivo tumors. Research indicates that both patients and their corresponding organoids exhibit similar responses to drugs, which makes PDOs an advanced and biologically relevant in vitro model for predicting therapeutic efficacy and toxicity.

Despite their potential, the widespread adoption of PDOs in mainstream drug discovery has been hindered by challenges such as assay reproducibility, scalability, and cost. Addressing the issue of scalability, Cellesce has developed a unique industrial bioprocess for the large-scale expansion of PDOs. This innovative method involves growing the organoids in an environment that ensures a constant supply of nutrients and growth factors while preventing the accumulation of toxins that can lead to cell death.

Explore how this advancement not only enhances the reproducibility and scalability of PDOs but also makes them more cost-effective, thereby paving the way for their broader use in the drug discovery pipeline.