Patient-derived breast cancer organoids to transform drug discovery screening assays

"There is an urgent and unmet medical need to discover and develop new disease-modifying breast cancer therapeutics that specifically target diseased cells and minimise adverse side-effects. One of the hurdles to be overcome in identifying new treatments is the availability of a test system that accurately predicts the efficacy of novel compounds for further development in the clinic.

The use of tumour organoids will potentially revolutionise the pre-clinical testing of novel therapeutic compounds. Organoids are fully representative, three-dimensional miniature versions of the patient tumour tissue from which they are derived. Donated tissue (given with full patient consent and ethical approval) is processed in the lab to grow into multicellular structures that recreate the anatomy and disease pathology of the original tumour. They are grown in 3D in a dish rather than in an animal and can be expanded in number over a few weeks. These organoids can then be used in drug screening, potentially enabling the determination of targeted therapies for individual patients. Multiple organoid lines representing many different forms of breast cancer can be used in a more general screen for novel treatments, or to test novel combinations of drugs and treatment regimens.

Until recently, organoids could only be grown and expanded manually on a small scale, for academic research, limiting their wide-spread commercial use. However, recent advances in bioprocessing technology made by Cellesce, a biotechnology company resulting from a collaboration between scientists from Bath and Cardiff Universities, have enabled the expansion of organoids on a commercial scale. The proprietary method involves seeding established cancer organoid lines into a bioreactor under carefully controlled conditions, to encourage optimal growth and yield. The resulting organoids are subject to rigorous quality control to prove their suitability for use in large scale assays by both commercial and academic institutions.

Presently, Cellesce specialises in human-derived colorectal cancer organoids, based on a set of tumour organoid lines generated by, and licensed from, Cardiff University. Published research has shown that human breast tumour organoid lines can similarly be established from patient breast tumour tissue. Combining Cardiff University's research expertise in mammary and organoid biology and Cellesce's proprietary technology and experience, we believe that the large -scale bioprocessing of patient-derived breast tumour organoids will be possible. These organoids will then be made available for the pharmaceutical industry, contract research organisations (CROs) and academic institutions worldwide."