Organoid models for translational pancreatic cancer research

Abstract

Despite recent advances in the treatment of cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) still retains the worst survival rate of common malignancies. Late diagnosis and lack of curative therapeutic options are the most pressing clinical problems for this disease. Therefore, there is a need for patient models and biomarkers that can be applied in the clinic to identify the most effective therapy for a patient. Pancreatic ductal organoids are ex-vivo models of PDAC that can be established from very small biopsies, enabling the study of localized, advanced, and metastatic patients. Organoids models have been applied to pancreatic cancer research and offer a promising platform for precision medicine approaches.