Establishment of gastric cancer organoid and its application in individualized therapy

Abstract

The application of cancer organoids is of great value in individualized therapy as an embodiment of the tumor of a patient, a gastric cancer organoid model was established and its application in individualized drug screening was explored. The primary tumor tissues of 3 patients with gastric cancer who underwent primary surgery at the Fourth Department of General Surgery of the First Hospital of Lanzhou University (Lanzhou, China) between July and August 2021 were selected and digested with mixed enzymes to prepare cell suspensions. Of these, two were cultured by mixing with Matrigel, while the cells from the third patient were placed in a 24-well ultra-low adhesion plate for suspension organoid culture. After intensive organoid growth, they were digested, passaged, cryopreserved and thawed for further analyses. The formation of gastric cancer organoids was observed under an inverted microscope. One case was selected, and organoids were compared with the original tumor tissue via H&E and immunohistochemical staining to evaluate the consistency of the two. Finally, paclitaxel, oxaliplatin and fluorouracil were administered to the organoids to verify the value of screening individualized drugs. It was indicated that the passage and cryopreservation of gastric cancer organoids were successfully established in all three cases. The H&E and immunohistochemical staining results suggested that the structure and protein expression of the organoids were highly similar to those of the source tumor tissue. The use of established gastric cancer organoids for individualized chemotherapy drug screening is of high clinical value. Gastric cancer organoids with high similarity to the original tissue may be successfully constructed by the suspension growth culture method. The established organoids may serve as an effective model for individualized drug screening.