Esophageal cancer organoid culture leads to the developement of new drug to prevent the occurrence of cancer

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20842
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0901:Oncology and related fields
• Research Institution: Kagoshima University
• Principal Investigator: Shimonosono Masataka 鹿児島大学, 鹿児島大学病院, 医員 (40814322)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 食道癌 / オルガノイド / 遺伝子解析 / 薬剤感受性試験

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We established normal, dysplastic and cancer organoids using human head, neck and esophageal tissues. These organoids were subjected to the genome profiling analysis. The results revealed that organoids represent the genomic background of original tissues and showed that dysplastic organoids already have cancer-related genome mutations.
We established the new platform of high-through put drug screening using organoid culture to develop new anti-cancer drug. More than 9,000 drugs approved by FDA were used for drug screening and putative drugs, that are commonly effective to multiple organoid samples, were extracted.
Further collection of cases will lead to the development of new drug and the realization of precision medicine.

Free Research Field

消化器外科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

食道癌オルガノイドおよび異型上皮由来のオルガノイドの樹立は報告がなく、遺伝子プロファイリングによりこれらの遺伝背景を明らかにし、それぞれのオルガノイドの定義づけを行ったことは非常に意義がある。今後これらのオルガノイド培養技術が薬剤開発をはじめとする研究媒体として活用されることが期待される。その中で、今回、9,000種類以上の薬剤ライブラリーに対して高スループット薬剤スクリーニングを行うプラットフォームを樹立した。このスクリーニング技術によって効率的に新規薬剤候補の抽出が可能となり、さらには将来的に個別化治療への臨床応用も期待される。