Advancing Personalized Medicine through Vessel-Supported Patient-Established Lung Tumor Organoids: A Microfluidic Approach

In recent years, patient-derived organoid models have become increasingly valuable for studying cancer biology and guiding personalized therapies. Unlike traditional homotypic cell cultures, these three-dimensional organoids closely replicate the structural, genetic, and functional characteristics of primary tumors, making them a more physiologically relevant in vitro model. To further enhance the accuracy and efficiency of tumor modeling, we report a novel approach to expedite preclinical anticancer drug screening using vessel-supported patient-established tumor organoids. Our method involves a standardized and speedy mechanical microsectioning process to produce hundreds to thousands of patient tissue fragments from tumorous surgical discards, enabling a fast formation of the tumor organoids. These established organoids could be further integrated into a bilayer microfluidic vascular-mimic endothelium-interface platform, simulating the tumor microenvironment with dynamic culture. The significance of the endothelium becomes evident during chemotherapy drug screening, as different types of drugs are administered to patients through the system. Under this dynamic condition, the dose-dependent effect on viability is less impactful compared to traditional static conditions. The combination of patient-derived tumor organoids, established through mechanical methods, with a cost-effective microfluidic system holds great promise for personalized medicine. By closely replicating patient-specific drug responses in a dynamic tumor microenvironment, this approach could advance preclinical drug screening, thus potentially improving treatments for patients with lung cancer and beyond.