类器官的研究进展及应用

Advances and applications of organoids: a review

摘要:

随着人类生物学研究的不断深入，需建立新的模型系统为研究提供了有力的工具。虽然传统的研究模型已被广泛应用，但难以准确反映组织、器官在机体中的生理现象。类器官 (Organoid) 是来源于干细胞或器官祖细胞的三维细胞聚集体,可分化和自组织形成具有人体相应器官的部分特定功能和结构。由于类器官具有人源性，可模拟器官发育和形成，在体外长期扩增中具有基因组稳定性，并能够形成活体生物库进行高通量筛选等优势，成为近年来备受关注的体外模型。目前，利用类器官模型结合新兴的基因编辑、器官芯片、单细胞RNA测序技术等，能够突破传统模型的瓶颈，在器官水平上为疾病模型的建立、药物研发、精准医疗以及再生医学等提供有价值的信息。文中就类器官分类及特性、研究应用、与其他技术结合应用及展望这4个方面进行综述。

关键词:类器官，干细胞，疾病模型，药物研究，精准医疗，再生医学

Abstract:

Novel model systems have provided powerful tools for the research of human biology. Despite of being widely used, the conventional research models could not precisely describe the human physiological phenomenon. Organoids are three-dimensional multicellular aggregates derived from stem cells or organ progenitors that could differentiate and self-organize to recapitulate some specific functionalities and architectures of their in vivo counterpart organs. Organoids can be used to simulate organogenesis because of their human origin. In addition, the genomic stability of organoids could be well maintained during long-term amplification in vitro. Moreover, organoids can be cryopreserved as a live biobank for high-throughput screening. Combinatorial use of organoids with other emerging technologies (e.g. gene editing, organ-on-a-chip and single-cell RNA sequencing) could overcome the bottlenecks of conventional models and provide valuable information for disease modelling, pharmaceutical research, precision medicine and regenerative medicine at the organ level. This review summarizes the classifications, characteristics, current applications, combined use with other technologies and future prospects of organoids.

Key words:organoids, stem cells, disease model, pharmaceutical research, precision medicine, regenerative medicine