Scientists have developed a three-dimensional model of the esophagus from human tissue to study cancer affecting this organ. article about it published In Science Translational Medicine.
Organelles are living biological objects whose internal structures reproduce the structure of certain organs. At the same time, their appearance often does not resemble the original, and they look like microscopic “meatballs”. However, their cells interact in almost the same way as real organs, making them useful for medical and biological research.
Johns Hopkins Medicine took tissue samples from the esophagus from healthy people undergoing endoscopy. Stem cells were isolated from them, organelles were grown, and the tumor suppressor gene (TP53 and CDKN2A) was knocked out using CRISPR/Cas9. Therefore, cancer cells began to appear in organoids in large quantities, and the organoid itself became a model for the course of an oncological disease.
It is possible to conduct anticancer therapy research on such an organoid without putting living patients at risk.