RESUMEN
Brain organoids have been widely used to study diseases and the development of the nervous system. Many reports have investigated the application of brain organoids, but most of these models lack vascular structures, which play essential roles in brain development and neurological diseases. The brain and blood vessels originate from two different germ layers, making it difficult to induce vascularized brain organoids in vitro. We developed this protocol to generate brain-specific blood vessel and cerebral organoids and then fused them at a specific developmental time point. The fused cerebral organoids exhibited robust vascular network-like structures, which allows simulating the in vivo developmental processes of the brain for further applications in various neurological diseases. Key Features ⢠Culturing vascularized brain organoids using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). ⢠The new approach generates not only neural cells and vessel-like networks but also brain-resident microglia immune cells in a single organoid.
RESUMEN
Cancer harbors variable heterogeneity and plasticity. Thus far, our comprehension is greatly based on cell lines, organoids, and patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDTXs). Organoids are a three-dimensional in vitro culture platform constructed from self-organizing stem cells. They can almost accurately recapitulate tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment "in a dish," which surpass established cell lines and are not as expensive and time-consuming as PDTXs. As an intermediate model, tumor organoids are also used to study the fundamental issues of tumorigenesis and metastasis. They are specifically applied for drug testing and stored as "living biobanks." In this review, we highlight the translational applications of organoid technologies in tumor research and precision medicine, discuss the advantages and limitations compared with other mentioned methods, and provide our outlook on its future.