Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized the way tumors are treated. Nevertheless, efficient and robust testing platforms are still missing, including clinically relevant human ex vivo tumor assays that allow pretreatment testing of cancer therapies and selection of the most efficient and safe therapy for a specific patient. In the case of immunotherapy, this testing platform would require not only cancer cells, but also the tumor micro-environment, including immune cells. Here, we discuss the applications of patient-derived tumor organoid cultures and the possibilities in using complex immune–organoid cultures to provide preclinical testing platforms for precision cancer immunotherapy.

doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-4026 - 2021