Successful Patient-Derived Organoid Culture of Gynecologic Cancers for Disease Modeling and Drug Sensitivity Testing

Abstract

Developing reliable experimental models that can predict clinical response before treating the patient is a high priority in gynecologic cancer research, especially in advanced or recurrent endometrial and ovarian cancers. Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) represent such an opportunity. Herein, we describe our successful creation of 43 tumor organoid cultures and nine adjacent normal tissue organoid cultures derived from patients with endometrial or ovarian cancer. From an initial set of 45 tumor tissues and seven ascites fluid samples harvested at surgery, 83% grew as organoids. Drug sensitivity testing and organoid cell viability assays were performed in 19 PDOs, a process that was accomplished within seven days of obtaining the initial surgical tumor sample. Sufficient numbers of cells were obtained to facilitate testing of the most commonly used agents for ovarian and endometrial cancer. The models reflected a range of sensitivity to platinum-containing chemotherapy as well as other relevant agents. One PDO from a patient treated prior to surgery with neoadjuvant trastuzumab successfully predicted the patient’s postoperative chemotherapy and trastuzumab resistance. In addition, the PDO drug sensitivity assay identified alternative treatment options that are currently used in the second-line setting. Our findings suggest that PDOs could be used as a preclinical platform for personalized cancer therapy for gynecologic cancer patients.