New Zealand’s first lung cancer organoid bank

New Zealand's first lung cancer organoid bank is being created by a team at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

Dr Hossein Jahedi is leading a multidisciplinary team, which aims to grow tumour samples from patients with advanced lung cancer into tiny organoids – 3D mini-tumours that mimic the original cancer.

Different treatments can be tested on the organoids, providing information on how that specific type of tumour is likely to respond to those treatments, says Jahedi, whose research has been funded by the Li Family Trust and the University’s Centre for Cancer Research – Te Aka Mātauranga Matepukupuku.

“The question the organoids will help answer is ‘does this medicine work for this patient?’

“It’s a personalised medicine approach that could help give patients the best chance,” says Jahedi.

Treatment costs could be reduced by offering the most effective treatments, while patients could also be spared the side effects caused by trying multiple treatments, he says.

Generally, organoids can be grown and several drugs can be tested on them within about two weeks.

Before an organoid is grown, patients must consent to donating a tumour sample from surgery or a biopsy.

“We take that tissue into the lab, gently break it into cell clusters, mix it with a special matrix that’s a bit like jelly, and cover it with a nutrient-rich liquid that helps the cancer cells grow.

“Over days to weeks, the clusters of cells will organise themselves into tumour organoids.”

Typically, each tumour sample provides dozens of organoids, which are about the size of a grain of sand, Jahedi says.

The organoids can also be used for early experiments testing new cancer treatments, before trials in animals or people.

“Organoids are one of the models that most closely resemble the cancer in humans, so they allow us to understand the behaviours of the cancer.

“They will probably reduce the need for animals in trials of new treatments, but they probably won’t ever replace them.”

The effects of new treatments on other systems in the body can be seen in animals, but cannot be observed within organoids, he says.

The lung cancer organoid project was inspired by a library of breast cancer organoids that has been developed by Dr Emma Nolan at the University of Auckland since 2022.

“Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in New Zealand – that’s why we wanted to focus on it.

“Māori and Pacific people are about three times more likely to die of lung cancer than people of other ethnicities in New Zealand.”

The project aims to grow organoids that will offer insights into lung cancers in Māori and Pacific patients, who are currently under-represented in research, he says.

Jahedi is working with Māori and Pacific health organisations to develop culturally safe protocols for how tissue is collected, stored, used, and governed.

He aims to grow 10 to 20 lung cancer organoids from different patients over the next 18 months.

Eventually, a bigger lung cancer organoid biobank could be used by doctors and researchers throughout New Zealand.

The organoids can be cryopreserved – frozen in liquid nitrogen – then activated again when needed.

“Cancer causes so much suffering for patients and their families and it can be difficult for the doctors and nurses caring for them, too.

“This seems like a good way to try to help people in a way that could have a direct impact,” Jahedi says.