Sato Taku
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School.
J Nippon Med Sch. 2025;92(3):234-241. doi: 10.1272/jnms.JNMS.2025_92-310.
Cancers originating from the same tissue vary significantly in genetic mutations and patient drug response. Furthermore, tumor tissue is composed of diverse cancer cell clones. This phenomenon, known as "cancer cell heterogeneity," occurs among tumors (between patients) and within individual tumors and is an important mechanism driving resistance to cancer therapy. Therefore, an understanding of cancer cell heterogeneity is essential for the development and delivery of more effective personalized treatments. The cancer cell lines typically used in cancer research cannot accurately replicate this heterogeneity. However, patient-derived tumor organoids (PDTOs), three-dimensional cultures of tumor cells, can precisely replicate the histological, molecular, and cellular heterogeneity of the original tumor. PDTOs generated from human cancers are now widely used as innovative tools in cancer research, including in studies of the mechanisms of cancer development and progression and in screening of anti-cancer drug. This review summarizes recent advances in human tumor research that uses PDTOs.
源自同一组织的癌症在基因突变和患者药物反应方面存在显著差异。此外，肿瘤组织由多种癌细胞克隆组成。这种被称为“癌细胞异质性”的现象在肿瘤之间（患者之间）以及单个肿瘤内部都会出现，并且是导致癌症治疗耐药性的重要机制。因此，了解癌细胞异质性对于开发和提供更有效的个性化治疗至关重要。癌症研究中通常使用的癌细胞系无法准确复制这种异质性。然而，患者来源的肿瘤类器官（PDTOs），即肿瘤细胞的三维培养物，能够精确复制原始肿瘤的组织学、分子和细胞异质性。源自人类癌症的PDTOs现在被广泛用作癌症研究中的创新工具，包括用于癌症发生和进展机制的研究以及抗癌药物的筛选。本综述总结了使用PDTOs的人类肿瘤研究的最新进展。
