Los Angeles-based UCLA Health has amassed the largest collection of sarcoma patient-derived tumor organoids to date, allowing researchers to study and replicate tumor response to drug therapies, according to a study published Sept. 20 in Cell Stem Cell.
Researchers from the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center assembled the biobank from 126 patients diagnosed with more than 20 unique sarcoma subtypes treated at UCLA Health between February 2018 and May 2022.
The study found one FDA-approved drug therapy was effective on 59% of the biobank samples.
"Testing drugs with patient-derived tumor organoids has potential to help predict how a patient may respond to treatment," Alice Soragni, PhD, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at UCLA, said in a Sept. 20 news release from the health system.
Read the study's full findings here.