THEcancer is still the enemy number one to defeat. Luckily every day science is making great strides towards the cure. On the occasion of World Cancer Daysponsored by UICCUnion for International Cancer Control and supported byWHOWorld Health Organizationwhich occurs the February 4thlet’s find out with the experts what they are the organoids and what are the new therapies possible.
Cancer: raise awareness
“World Cancer Day is an important occasion for raise awareness about canceron the possible causesabout treatments available and on strategies prevention. It is also an opportunity for those who, like us, work in this field, to spread information about the research innovationsto the new medical and surgical treatments availableand to spread the message that the early diagnosis and prevention can save lives,” stresses the Doctor Antonio ToescaDirector of Surgical Senology of theIRCCS Candiolo of Turin.
Organoids: the avatars of tumors
“Organoids are miniature tumours for which we try to reproduce all the initial conditions, including the patient’s immune system, which alone should kill the tumor and stop it from growing. Orgnoids arise from patients’ surgical or biopsy tumor specimens which are grown in vitro in a three-dimensional matrix. A kind of avatars, capable of improving and evolving medicine. At present the difficulty is make cells live in an artificial environment. Therefore, obtaining the organoids from the tumor is not obvious. Easier if the cellular material drifts from metastasesthe worst condition for the patient but best for science,” explains la Professor Anna SapinoScientific Director of the IRCCS Candiolo of Turin.
What are they for
“There are many ways in which organoids are used. For example for experience the response to therapies standard or to a new drug, as a model on which evaluate molecular targets to attack with existing drugs, or even to understand how and why a particular tumor grows and consequently identify new therapeutic targets and work to produce new drugs. If on 10 organoids from different patients a repetitive oncogenic alteration that was not known before is identified, it may be interesting produce drugs able to block it», continues Professor Sapino.
Organoids and breast cancer
“In the context of breast cancer they provide a unique platform to study disease in a highly controlled in vitro setting. Researchers can use organoids to test the effects of different drugsunderstand the breast cancer biology and identify new therapeutic targets. It was possible for example describe a new model of tumor angiogenesis in vitro, and create 3D cell cultures from patient-derived xenograft. In these and other areas, organoids can help overcome the limitations of traditional cell culture systems and animal models, which may not accurately reflect the complexity of human cancer,” Dr. Toesca points out.
Mutual collaboration with the patient
«The creation of organoids is possible thanks to donations of biological material from patients. Almost everyone agrees to donate their “tumor” for research. Once the donation took place without awareness. Today we want whoever makes this gesture to know what it means and what we do with the cellular material received in the absolute ethical and privacy protection. The the “master” of the material is and remains the patient. In the past, a patient that he had donated, after some time asked us to be able to receive his material back to try to enter a new trial in another institution. In collaboration with the latter, we transferred it according to very specific rules so that everything was kept intact. With all patients there is collaboration and mutual respect. We work for a common goal: to defeat cancer», concludes Professor Sapino.
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