Organoid models: the future companions of personalized drug development

High failure rates of the current drug development process are driving exemplary changes toward methodologies centered on human disease in-vitro modeling. Organoids are self-organized tissue sub-units resembling their organ of origin and are widely acknowledged for their unique potential in recapitulating human physio-pathological mechanisms. They are transformative for human health by becoming the platform of choice to probe disease mechanisms and advance new therapies. Furthermore, the compounds' validation as therapeutics represents another point of the drug development pipeline where organoids may provide key understandings and help pharma organizations replace or reduce animal research. In this review, we focus on gastrointestinal organoid models, which are currently the most advanced organoid models in drug development. We focus on experimental validations of their value, and we propose avenues to enhance their use in drug discovery and development, as well as precision medicine and diagnostics.

Fusion-negative rhabdomyosarcoma 3D organoids to predict effective drug combinations: A proof-of-concept on cell death inducers

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the main form of pediatric soft-tissue sarcoma. Its cure rate has not notably improved in the last 20 years following relapse, and the lack of reliable preclinical models has hampered the design of new therapies. This is particularly true for highly heterogeneous fusion-negative RMS (FNRMS). Although methods have been proposed to establish FNRMS organoids, their efficiency remains limited to date, both in terms of derivation rate and ability to accurately mimic the original tumor. Here, we present the development of a next-generation 3D organoid model derived from relapsed adult and pediatric FNRMS. This model preserves the molecular features of the patients' tumors and is expandable for several months in 3D, reinforcing its interest to drug combination screening with longitudinal efficacy monitoring. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate its preclinical relevance by reevaluating the therapeutic opportunities of targeting apoptosis in FNRMS from a streamlined approach based on transcriptomic data exploitation.

Microarrayed human bone marrow organoids for modeling blood stem cell dynamics

In many leukemia patients, a poor prognosis is attributed either to the development of chemotherapy resistance by leukemic stem cells (LSCs) or to the inefficient engraftment of transplanted hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) into the bone marrow (BM). Here, we build a 3D in vitro model system of bone marrow organoids (BMOs) that recapitulate several structural and cellular components of native BM. These organoids are formed in a high-throughput manner from the aggregation of endothelial and mesenchymal cells within hydrogel microwells. Accordingly, the mesenchymal compartment shows partial maintenance of its self-renewal and multilineage potential, while endothelial cells self-organize into an interconnected vessel-like network. Intriguingly, such an endothelial compartment enhances the recruitment of HSPCs in a chemokine ligand/receptor-dependent manner, reminiscent of HSPC homing behavior in vivo. Additionally, we also model LSC migration and nesting in BMOs, thus highlighting the potential of this system as a well accessible and scalable preclinical model for candidate drug screening and patient-specific assays.

Tissue geometry drives deterministic organoid patterning

Epithelial organoids are stem cell–derived tissues that approximate aspects of real organs, and thus they have potential as powerful tools in basic and translational research. By definition, they self-organize, but the structures formed are often heterogeneous and irreproducible, which limits their use in the lab and clinic. We describe methodologies for spatially and temporally controlling organoid formation, thereby rendering a stochastic process more deterministic. Bioengineered stem cell microenvironments are used to specify the initial geometry of intestinal organoids, which in turn controls their patterning and crypt formation. We leveraged the reproducibility and predictability of the culture to identify the underlying mechanisms of epithelial patterning, which may contribute to reinforcing intestinal regionalization in vivo. By controlling organoid culture, we demonstrate how these structures can be used to answer questions not readily addressable with the standard, more variable, organoid models.

Investigating receptor-mediated antibody transcytosis using blood-brain barrier organoid arrays

BACKGROUND

The pathways that control protein transport across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remain poorly characterized. Despite great advances in recapitulating the human BBB in vitro, current models are not suitable for systematic analysis of the molecular mechanisms of antibody transport. The gaps in our mechanistic understanding of antibody transcytosis hinder new therapeutic delivery strategy development.

METHODS

We applied a novel bioengineering approach to generate human BBB organoids by the self-assembly of astrocytes, pericytes and brain endothelial cells with unprecedented throughput and reproducibility using micro patterned hydrogels. We designed a semi-automated and scalable imaging assay to measure receptor-mediated transcytosis of antibodies. Finally, we developed a workflow to use CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in BBB organoid arrays to knock out regulators of endocytosis specifically in brain endothelial cells in order to dissect the molecular mechanisms of receptor-mediated transcytosis.

RESULTS

BBB organoid arrays allowed the simultaneous growth of more than 3000 homogenous organoids per individual experiment in a highly reproducible manner. BBB organoid arrays showed low permeability to macromolecules and prevented transport of human non-targeting antibodies. In contrast, a monovalent antibody targeting the human transferrin receptor underwent dose- and time-dependent transcytosis in organoids. Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in BBB organoid arrays, we showed that clathrin, but not caveolin, is required for transferrin receptor-dependent transcytosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Human BBB organoid arrays are a robust high-throughput platform that can be used to discover new mechanisms of receptor-mediated antibody transcytosis. The implementation of this platform during early stages of drug discovery can accelerate the development of new brain delivery technologies.

Bioengineered embryoids mimic post-implantation development in vitro

The difficulty of studying post-implantation development in mammals has sparked a flurry of activity to develop in vitro models, termed embryoids, based on self-organizing pluripotent stem cells. Previous approaches to derive embryoids either lack the physiological morphology and signaling interactions, or are unconducive to model post-gastrulation development. Here, we report a bioengineering-inspired approach aimed at addressing this gap. We employ a high-throughput cell aggregation approach to simultaneously coax mouse embryonic stem cells into hundreds of uniform epiblast-like aggregates in a solid matrix-free manner. When co-cultured with mouse trophoblast stem cell aggregates, the resulting hybrid structures initiate gastrulation-like events and undergo axial morphogenesis to yield structures, termed EpiTS embryoids, with a pronounced anterior development, including brain-like regions. We identify the presence of an epithelium in EPI aggregates as the major determinant for the axial morphogenesis and anterior development seen in EpiTS embryoids. Our results demonstrate the potential of EpiTS embryoids to study peri-gastrulation development in vitro.

Robust Phase Unwrapping via Deep Image Prior for Quantitative Phase Imaging

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) is an emerging label-free technique that produces images containing morphological and dynamical information without contrast agents. Unfortunately, the phase is wrapped in most imaging system. Phase unwrapping is the computational process that recovers a more informative image. It is particularly challenging with thick and complex samples such as organoids. Recent works that rely on supervised training show that deep learning is a powerful method to unwrap the phase; however, supervised approaches require large and representative datasets which are difficult to obtain for complex biological samples. Inspired by the concept of deep image priors, we propose a deep-learning-based method that does not need any training set. Our framework relies on an untrained convolutional neural network to accurately unwrap the phase while ensuring the consistency of the measurements. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed method faithfully recovers the phase of complex samples on both real and simulated data. Our work paves the way to reliable phase imaging of thick and complex samples with QPI.

Diagnostic tools and CFTR functional assays in cystic fibrosis: utility and availability in Switzerland

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease caused by a bi-allelic mutation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. When the diagnosis cannot be confirmed by a positive sweat test or/and the identification of two CF-causing variants, international guidelines recommend the use of CFTR functional assays. These tests assess whether CFTR activity is normal or diminished/absent through measurement of CFTR-mediated chloride secretion/absorption. CFTR functional assays are not only useful for diagnostic purposes but can also serve as a surrogate outcome for clinical trials of CFTR modulators, which are emerging therapeutic agents designed to correct the malfunctioning protein. In the near future they could also be used as precision-medicine techniques, to help guidance and optimisation of treatment. Until now, sweat testing has been the only CFTR functional assay available in Switzerland. Since 2020, the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) at Lausanne and the Lucerne Children’s Hospital perform nasal potential difference measurement. Moreover, The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) established a reliable procedure to generate adult intestinal organoids, i.e., stem cell-derived in-vitro grown mini tissues, extracted from rectal biopsies, which can be used to assess CFTR function in vitro. This narrative review describes the most popular CFTR functional assays, as well as their indications, limitations and availability in Switzerland.

Pharmacological Induction of a Progenitor State for the Efficient Expansion of Primary Human Hepatocytes

The liver is an organ with strong regenerative capacity, yet primary hepatocytes have a low amplification potential in vitro, a major limitation for the cell-based therapy of liver disorders and for ex vivo biological screens. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may help to circumvent this obstacle but often harbor genetic and epigenetic abnormalities, limiting their potential. Here, we describe the pharmacological induction of proliferative human hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) through a cocktail of growth factors and small molecules mimicking the signaling events involved in liver regeneration. Human HPCs from healthy donors and pediatric patients proliferated vigorously while maintaining their genomic stability and could be redifferentiated in vitro into metabolically competent cells that supported the replication of hepatitis B and delta viruses. Redifferentiation efficiency was boosted by three-dimensional culture. Finally, transcriptome analysis showed that HPCs were more closely related to mature hepatocytes than iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells were. Conclusion: HPC induction holds promise for a variety of applications such as ex vivo disease modeling, personalized drug testing or metabolic studies, and development of a bioartificial liver.

Decoding of position in the developing neural tube from antiparallel morphogen gradients

Like many developing tissues, the vertebrate neural tube is patterned by antiparallel morphogen gradients. To understand how these inputs are interpreted, we measured morphogen signaling and target gene expression in mouse embryos and chick ex vivo assays. From these data, we derived and validated a characteristic decoding map that relates morphogen input to the positional identity of neural progenitors. Analysis of the observed responses indicates that the underlying interpretation strategy minimizes patterning errors in response to the joint input of noisy opposing gradients. We reverse-engineered a transcriptional network that provides a mechanistic basis for the observed cell fate decisions and accounts for the precision and dynamics of pattern formation. Together, our data link opposing gradient dynamics in a growing tissue to precise pattern formation.

In Situ Patterning of Microfluidic Networks in 3D Cell-Laden Hydrogels

Focalized short-pulsed lasers have sufficient power to generate micrometer-sized cavities in various hydrogels. An in situ technique based on laser ablation to fabricate intricate microfluidic networks in biocompatible gels without manual handling is presented. This method is fully compatible with 3D cell culture and opens up unprecedented opportunities for cell biology, developmental biology, and stem-cell-based tissue engineering.

Ultra-rapid prototyping of flexible, multi-layered microfluidic devices via razor writing

The fabrication of microfluidic devices is often still a time-consuming and costly process. Here we introduce a very simple and cheap microfabrication process based on "razor writing", also termed xurography, for the ultra-rapid prototyping of microfluidic devices. Thin poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membranes are spin-coated on flexible plastic foil and cut into user-defined shapes with a bench-top cutter plotter. The PDMS membranes can then be assembled into desirable microdevices via plasma bonding. The plastic foil allows manipulation of exceptionally thin (30-300 μm) PDMS layers and can be readily peeled after fabrication. This versatile technique can be used to produce a wide variety of microfluidic device prototypes within just a few hours.