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Project

Predicting chemoradiation response for gastrointestinal cancer patients using patient-derived tumor organoids.

Advances in precision oncology have been shown to greatly benefit outcomes of cancer patients, demonstrating the importance of shifting to tailored treatment approaches for all cancer patients. A significant proportion of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients treated with standard-of-care (SOC) chemo- and/or radiotherapy experience either under- or overtreatment and a delay in starting the optimal treatment. With no existing predictive biomarkers for chemo- and radiotherapy responses there is therefore a clear unmet medical need for a novel model that can distinguish chemoradiation therapy (CRT) responders and non-responders in GI cancer patients. Patient-derived tumor organoids (PDOs), three-dimensional (3D) ex-vivo models generated from individual patient tumor tissue biopsies or resections, have recently emerged as a promising tool for predicting chemo- and radiotherapy responses in GI cancer patients. Some limitations of PDOs, however, currently hamper the implementation of PDOs into the clinic. With this feasible 1-year project we will focus on overcoming the most important limitations: design and comparison of various ex-vivo drug panels and treatment schedules representative of clinical practice, optimization of our innovative in-house developed 3D organoid assay (OrBITS) for determining ex-vivo drug response, and reducing turn-around time. Our already successfully established tumor organoid biobank and validated 3D organoid assay will be great assets in this. Moreover, as a first proof-of-principal we will study the potential of PDO drug screenings for identifying in-vivo therapy response of CRT for GI patients, which will be obtained from retrospective clinical follow-up. Altogether, the project will enable us to reach our ultimate goal in the near future: implementing PDO drug screens at University Hospital Antwerp (UZA) as a tool to help guide clinical decision-making for cancer patients and for advancing precision medicine in oncology.
Date:1 Apr 2022 →  31 Mar 2023
Keywords:CANCER THERAPY, GASTRO-INTESTINAL, CHEMOTHERAPEUTICS, RADIOTHERAPY
Disciplines:Gastro-enterology, Cancer therapy