Table 1.

Use of 3D Organoids to Model Esophageal Cancer Development and Progression

Advantages
Recapitulation of histology of primary tissue of origin (normal, dysplastic, cancer)
Recapitulation of genetic and epigenetic signature of original tissue/tumor
Recapitulation of tumor clonal heterogeneity
Evaluation of individual clones and tumor initiating cells
Long-term culture and passaging Biobanking of patient samples across institutions
Conversion to 2D culture High-throughput drug screening
High-throughput gene editing Personalized medicine using PDOs
Limitations
Lack diverse cell types and microenvironment of original tumors
Unknown genetic and epigenetic stability over multiple passages
Clonal drift over multiple passages