Cell Stem Cell: The first patient-derived cervical cancer organoid model, providing new methods for cervical cancer research

Cervical cancer is a common gynecological malignancy, usually caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection .

Organoids can simulate the three-dimensional structure and function of internal organs in vitro, and have been widely used in research on functional tissue induction, disease model establishment, drug screening, etc.

On April 13, 2021, the Hans Clevers team from Utrecht University in the Netherlands published a research paper titled Patient-derived organoids model cervical tissue dynamics and viral oncogenesis in cervical cancer in the Cell Stem Cell journal.

The research team developed the first patient-based organoid model of cervical cancer.

In order to develop a better human cervical tissue model, the research team obtained human cervical tissue from healthy volunteers or patients with different types of cervical cancer.

Cervical organoids derived from healthy tissues are very similar to the tissue structure and gene expression profile of actual human cervix.

Cervical cancer is usually caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, but because the HPV virus is difficult to cultivate in the laboratory, the research on the virus is very complicated.

Organoids that grow from cancerous tissues, also called tumoroids, are very similar to actual tumors.

Cervical cancer organoids

The research team used cervical cancer cells from cervical cancer patients to grow cervical cancer organoids, and further discovered that the tumor organoids responded differently to common chemotherapy, which paved the way for precision medicine.

In general, the research has successfully constructed human cervical organoids and cervical cancer organoids from patients, enabling in-depth analysis of live cells that are becoming cancerous.

Original source:

Kadi Lhmussaar, et al.