At Quénet Torrent Institute, pioneers in the application of intraperitoneal chemotherapy, we use a new technology that allows us to choose the most effective chemotherapy for each tumour, in the case of metastatic patients and those in whom the disease is progressing.
With the new organoid technology (Invitocue, ONCO-PDO) we can predict the response of a tumour to a pharmacological treatment.
Quénet Torrent Institute has incorporated organoid technology for the treatment of its patients, consisting of a 3D in vitro reproduction of a sample of the patient’s tumour, reproducing its physiological and cellular composition, to predict the response of that tumour to a specific chemotherapy. This provides a better model of the tumour, representative of the diversity of the tumour.
As a result, different types or combinations of chemotherapies can be tested in vitro, allowing the treatment or therapeutic strategy to be adapted individually for each patient.
Thanks to the organoids, we obtain a very precise in vitro test model, specific for each patient, which maintains the complexity of the tumour in vivo, as well as its architecture. We also obtain samples suitable for high-throughput screening, a method of scientific experimentation in drug discovery.
Another advantage is that by preserving the characteristics of the original tumour, the organoids can be used for other tests such as genetic sequencing, immunohistochemistry, Western-blot, etc.
The organoid culture process lasts only 3 weeks between the biopsy of the tumour and the results of the test with the different chemotherapy drugs. Afterwards, and with the results, the multidisciplinary tumour committee of the Quénet Torrent Institute, made up of surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, radiotherapists, anatomopathologists and nurses, reaches a consensus on the best therapeutic option, whether it is systemic, intraperitoneal or a combination of both.
One of the great hopes of organoid technology is that the chemotherapy test is performed directly on the tumour culture, so it perfectly reproduces the treatments for peritoneal carcinomatosis -cytoreduction + HIPEC-, -hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, PIPAC, … applied by the surgeons of Quénet Torrent Institute.
This technology can also be applied to patients with breast, colorectal, ovarian, gastric and pancreatic cancer and is currently applied mainly from the second line of treatment onwards.
The study of the tumour by means of organoids represents a new hope for patients who have already undergone various types of chemotherapy and a new and interesting tool for professionals fighting cancer.