Open AccessConcise Review: The Relevance of Human Stem Cell‐Derived Organoid Models for Epithelial Translational Medicine
Author(s) -
Hynds Robert E.,
Giangreco Adam
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
stem cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.159
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1549-4918
pISSN - 1066-5099
DOI - 10.1002/stem.1290
Subject(s) - organoid , biology , stem cell , translational research , precision medicine , translational medicine , computational biology , relevance (law) , personalized medicine , bioinformatics , neuroscience , microbiology and biotechnology , political science , law , genetics
Epithelial organ remodeling is a major contributing factor to worldwide death and disease, costing healthcare systems billions of dollars every year. Despite this, most fundamental epithelial organ research fails to produce new therapies and mortality rates for epithelial organ diseases remain unacceptably high. In large part, this failure in translating basic epithelial research into clinical therapy is due to a lack of relevance in existing preclinical models. To correct this, new models are required that improve preclinical target identification, pharmacological lead validation, and compound optimization. In this review, we discuss the relevance of human stem cell‐derived, three‐dimensional organoid models for addressing each of these challenges. We highlight the advantages of stem cell‐derived organoid models over existing culture systems, discuss recent advances in epithelial tissue‐specific organoids, and present a paradigm for using organoid models in human translational medicine. S TEM C ELLS 2013;31:417–422