Establishment of organoid models for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and screening of individualized therapy strategy

BACKGROUND: Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) who undergo surgical resection and receive effective chemotherapy have the best chance for long‐term survival. Unfortunately, because of the heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer, it is difficult to find a personalized treatment strategy for patients. Organoids are ideal preclinical models for personalized medicine. Therefore, we explore the cultivation conditions and construction methods of PDAC organoid models to screen the individualized therapy strategy. METHODS: Fresh PDAC tissues from surgical resection were collected and digested with digestive enzymes; then the tumor cells were embedded in Matrigel with a suitable medium to establish the PDAC organoid models. The genetic stability of the organoids was analyzed using whole exon sequencing; hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry of organoids were performed to analyze their consistency with the pathological morphology of the patient's tumor tissue; After 2 days of organoid culture, we selected four commonly used clinical chemotherapy drugs for single or combined treatment to analyze drug sensitivity. RESULTS: Two cases of PDAC organoid models were successfully established, and the results of their pathological characteristics and exome sequencing were consistent with those of the patient's tumor tissue. Both PDAC organoids showed more sensitivity to gemcitabine and cisplatin, and the combined treatment was more effective than monotherapy. CONCLUSION: Both organoids better retained the pathological characteristics, genomic stability, and heterogeneity with the original tumor. Individual PDAC organoids exhibited different sensitivities to the same drugs. Thus, this study provided ideal experimental models for screening individualized therapy strategy for patients with PDAC.