Verstegen Monique M A, Coppes Rob P, Beghin Anne, De Coppi Paolo, Gerli Mattia F M, de Graeff Nienke, Pan Qiuwei, Saito Yoshimasa, Shi Shaojun, Zadpoor Amir A, van der Laan Luc J W
Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Nat Med. 2025 Feb;31(2):409-421. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03489-3. Epub 2025 Feb 3.
Organoids are innovative three-dimensional and self-organizing cell cultures of various lineages that can be used to study diverse tissues and organs. Human organoids have dramatically increased our understanding of developmental and disease biology. They provide a patient-specific model to study known diseases, with advantages over animal models, and can also provide insights into emerging and future health threats related to climate change, zoonotic infections, environmental pollutants or even microgravity during space exploration. Furthermore, organoids show potential for regenerative cell therapies and organ transplantation. Still, several challenges for broad clinical application remain, including inefficiencies in initiation and expansion, increasing model complexity and difficulties with upscaling clinical-grade cultures and developing more organ-specific human tissue microenvironments. To achieve the full potential of organoid technology, interdisciplinary efforts are needed, integrating advances from biology, bioengineering, computational science, ethics and clinical research. In this Review, we showcase pivotal achievements in epithelial organoid research and technologies and provide an outlook for the future of organoids in advancing human health and medicine.
类器官是各种谱系的创新型三维自组织细胞培养物，可用于研究多种组织和器官。人类类器官极大地增进了我们对发育生物学和疾病生物学的理解。它们提供了一个针对患者的模型来研究已知疾病，相对于动物模型具有优势，还能为与气候变化、人畜共患感染、环境污染物甚至太空探索期间的微重力相关的新出现和未来健康威胁提供见解。此外，类器官在再生细胞疗法和器官移植方面显示出潜力。然而，广泛临床应用仍存在若干挑战，包括起始和扩增效率低下、模型复杂性增加以及扩大临床级培养规模和开发更多器官特异性人体组织微环境的困难。为了充分发挥类器官技术的潜力，需要跨学科的努力，整合生物学、生物工程、计算科学、伦理学和临床研究等方面的进展。在本综述中，我们展示上皮类器官研究和技术的关键成就，并展望类器官在促进人类健康和医学方面的未来。
