Directing Organoids Against Ovarian Cancer

Despite recent and encouraging advances in cancer research and clinical care, finding effective treatment for ovarian cancer patients remains a painstaking process of trial and error, requiring time most patients simply do not have. 

The dire prognosis for this particular cancer has accentuated the desperate need for better tools to help oncologists pair the right treatment with the right patient. In tribute to NYSCF’s founding CEO Susan L. Solomon, whom we lost to ovarian cancer in 2022, NYSCF has established a trailblazing method to grow and study a patient’s tumor indefinitely in the lab. Made from the patient’s own cancer cells, the resulting “mini-tumors,” known as organoids, can be used to test hundreds of potential therapies to ascertain the most effective compounds for each patient. 

By accelerating exciting new avenues of research, organoids are helping to move the needle on potential treatments for ovarian cancer patients. For example, our research in immunotherapies has opened one promising possibility: using stem cells, we are creating natural killer cells—a type of immune cell critical to fighting tumors—and directing them against the organoids to study how each patient’s tumor responds. Our scientists have great hope that this promising technology will allow us to develop effective ovarian cancer immunotherapies.

In a similar vein, working with the Stevens Institute of Technology, we used these organoids to test the impact of taurine, a compound often found in foods and energy drinks, on tumor resistance to chemotherapy. We are now studying the implications that this might have for patients. As we continue to use our unique organoid platform to study ovarian cancer, NYSCF is advancing the promise of effective, personalized treatments for women with this deadly disease. Given that organoids can be grown from any tumor, our work also holds the potential to apply more broadly to other cancer types. NYSCF is deeply grateful for the visionary support of The Ralph and Ricky Lauren Family Foundation for our trailblazing work.

Physician-scientist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and NYSCF Board member Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee on the impact of Dr. Laura Andres-Martin’s work

“Dr. Laura Andres-Martin’s team at NYSCF has built one of the largest banks in the world of ovarian cancer cells grown in organoid form. This invaluable resource will help us translate past decades of work into medicines for patients.”