Opportunities and challenges of glioma organoids

Cell Commun Signal. 2021 Oct 11;19(1):102. doi: 10.1186/s12964-021-00777-0.

Abstract

Glioma is the most common primary brain tumor and its prognosis is poor. Despite surgical removal, glioma is still prone to recurrence because it grows rapidly in the brain, is resistant to chemotherapy, and is highly aggressive. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a platform to study the cell dynamics of gliomas in order to discover the characteristics of the disease and develop more effective treatments. Although 2D cell models and animal models in previous studies have provided great help for our research, they also have many defects. Recently, scientific researchers have constructed a 3D structure called Organoids, which is similar to the structure of human tissues and organs. Organoids can perfectly compensate for the shortcomings of previous glioma models and are currently the most suitable research platform for glioma research. Therefore, we review the three methods currently used to establish glioma organoids. And introduced how they play a role in the diagnosis and treatment of glioma. Finally, we also summarized the current bottlenecks and difficulties encountered by glioma organoids, and the current efforts to solve these difficulties. Video Abstract.

Keywords: Cancer stem cells; Endothelial cells; Glioblastoma; Glioma; Organoids; Tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Brain / pathology
  • Brain Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Brain Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Brain Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Culture Techniques*
  • Glioma / drug therapy
  • Glioma / genetics*
  • Glioma / pathology
  • Humans
  • Organoids / metabolism
  • Organoids / pathology
  • Prognosis