Search

Cancer models strive to recapitulate the incredible diversity inherent in human tumors. A key challenge in accurate tumor modeling lies in capturing the panoply of homo- and heterotypic cellular interactions within the context of a three-dimensional tissue microenvironment. To address this challenge, researchers have developed organotypic cancer models (organoids) that combine the 3D architecture of in vivo tissues with the experimental facility of 2D cell lines. Here we address the benefits and drawbacks of these systems, as well as their most recent advances. In particular, we focus on the application of such models to the discovery of novel cancer drivers, the study of tumor biology, and the development of novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer.

The application of primary organoid cultures containing epithelial and mesenchymal elements to cancer modeling holds promise for combining the accurate multilineage differentiation and physiology of in vivo systems with the facile in vitro manipulation of transformed cell lines. Here we used a single air-liquid interface culture method without modification to engineer oncogenic mutations into primary epithelial and mesenchymal organoids from mouse colon, stomach and pancreas. Pancreatic and gastric organoids exhibited dysplasia as a result of expression of Kras carrying the G12D mutation (Kras(G12D)), p53 loss or both and readily generated adenocarcinoma after in vivo transplantation. In contrast, primary colon organoids required combinatorial Apc, p53, Kras(G12D) and Smad4 mutations for progressive transformation to invasive adenocarcinoma-like histology in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo, recapitulating multi-hit models of colorectal cancer (CRC), as compared to the more promiscuous transformation of small intestinal organoids. Colon organoid culture functionally validated the microRNA miR-483 as a dominant driver oncogene at the IGF2 (insulin-like growth factor-2) 11p15.5 CRC amplicon, inducing dysplasia in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo. These studies demonstrate the general utility of a highly tractable primary organoid system for cancer modeling and driver oncogene validation in diverse gastrointestinal tissues.

Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays a key role in the pathogenesis of colon and other cancers; emerging evidence indicates that oncogenic β-catenin regulates several biological processes essential for cancer initiation and progression. To decipher the role of β-catenin in transformation, we classified β-catenin activity in 85 cancer cell lines in which we performed genome-scale loss-of-function screens and found that β-catenin active cancers are dependent on a signaling pathway involving the transcriptional regulator YAP1. Specifically, we found that YAP1 and the transcription factor TBX5 form a complex with β-catenin. Phosphorylation of YAP1 by the tyrosine kinase YES1 leads to localization of this complex to the promoters of antiapoptotic genes, including BCL2L1 and BIRC5. A small-molecule inhibitor of YES1 impeded the proliferation of β-catenin-dependent cancers in both cell lines and animal models. These observations define a β-catenin-YAP1-TBX5 complex essential to the transformation and survival of β-catenin-driven cancers., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)