Summary |
Kidney tumours are among the most common solid tumours in children, comprising several distinct subtypes differing in many aspects, including cell-of-origin, genetics, and pathology. Pre-clinical cell models capturing the disease heterogeneity are currently lacking. Here, we describe the first paediatric cancer organoid biobank. It contains tumour and matching normal kidney organoids from over 50 children with different subtypes of kidney cancer, including Wilms tumours, malignant rhabdoid tumours, renal cell carcinomas, and congenital mesoblastic nephromas. The malignant rhabdoid tumour organoids represent the first organoid model for tumours of non-epithelial origin. The tumour organoids retain key properties of native tumours, useful for revealing patient-specific drug vulnerabilities. We further demonstrate that organoid cultures derived from Wilms tumours consist of multiple different cell types, including epithelial, stromal and blastemal-like. Our organoid biobank captures the cellular heterogeneity of paediatric kidney tumours, providing a representative collection of well-characterized models for basic cancer research, drug-screening, and personalized medicine.
|