Crossroad of ovarian cancer organoid culture: Single cell suspension and mechanically sheared fragment

Ovarian cancer, a common gynecologic tumor, is associated with a high mortality, due to challenges in early detection within the reproductive system. According to our previous research, cultivating patient-specific organoids from mechanically sheared tissues can be utilized for drug response evaluation but has limitations for high-throughput screening efficiency due to their inconsistent size. In this research, we focused on organoids developed from single-cell suspensions to address the critical requirement for uniformity in organoid size. By the day 3 of culture, single-cell suspensions rapidly and spontaneously aggregated into spherical structures with a more consistent size. Notably, the organoids of sample OVA-37 were ten times larger after 8 days of culture. Transcriptomic analysis was used to compare the two organoid culture techniques, demonstrating that the variations between different organoid culture methods were minimal, with higher variability observed among patients. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed only minor discrepancies in specific pathways, such as TGF-β and tight junctions. Furthermore, treatment with carboplatin in a 96-well plate setup resulted in reproducible drug responses, as evidenced by coefficients of variation lower than 40%. This finding suggests that single-cell suspension-cultured organoids can be employed for reproducible high-throughput drug screening. This approach holds potential for personalized drug screening in ovarian cancer and may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies.