Liver organoids: a promising three-dimensional model for insights and innovations in tumor progression and precision medicine of liver cancer

Yukun Chen; Yujun Liu; Shimin Chen; Long Zhang; Jiawei Rao; Xinjun Lu; Yi Ma

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1180184

Liver organoids: a promising three-dimensional model for insights and innovations in tumor progression and precision medicine of liver cancer

Front Immunol. 2023 Jun 2:14:1180184. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1180184. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yukun Chen^{1

2}, Yujun Liu², Shimin Chen², Long Zhang², Jiawei Rao^{1

3

4}, Xinjun Lu⁵, Yi Ma^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Organ Transplant Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
² Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Organ Donation and Transplant Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial International Cooperation Base of Science and Technology (Organ Transplantation), The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Primary liver cancer (PLC) is one type of cancer with high incidence rate and high mortality rate in the worldwide. Systemic therapy is the major treatment for PLC, including surgical resection, immunotherapy and targeted therapy. However, mainly due to the heterogeneity of tumors, responses to the above drug therapy differ from person to person, indicating the urgent needs for personalized treatment for PLC. Organoids are 3D models derived from adult liver tissues or pluripotent stem cells. Based on the ability to recapitulate the genetic and functional features of in vivo tissues, organoids have assisted biomedical research to make tremendous progress in understanding disease origin, progression and treatment strategies since their invention and application. In liver cancer research, liver organoids contribute greatly to reflecting the heterogeneity of liver cancer and restoring tumor microenvironment (TME) by co-organizing tumor vasculature and stromal components in vitro. Therefore, they provide a promising platform for further investigation into the biology of liver cancer, drug screening and precision medicine for PLC. In this review, we discuss the recent advances of liver organoids in liver cancer, in terms of generation methods, application in precision medicine and TME modeling.

Keywords: liver cancer; organoid; personalized treatment; precision medicine; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
Humans
Liver Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Liver Neoplasms* / therapy
Organoids
Precision Medicine* / methods
Tumor Microenvironment

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2023A1515011805 and 2022A1515011052), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81873591), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2018A050506030), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (201704020073), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Construction Projection on Organ Donation and Transplant Immunology (2013A061401007, 2017B030314018, and 2020B1212060026), and the Guangdong Provincial International Cooperation Base of Science and Technology (Organ Transplantation) (2015B050501002 and 2020A0505020003).