Organoids are not organs: Sources of variation and misinformation in organoid biology

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In the past decade, the term organoid has moved from obscurity to common use to describe a 3D in vitro cellular model of a tissue that recapitulates structural and functional elements of the in vivo organ it models. The term organoid is now applied to structures formed as a result of two distinct processes: the capacity for adult epithelial stem cells to re-create a tissue niche in vitro and the ability to direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells to a 3D self-organizing multicellular model of organogenesis. While these two organoid fields rely upon different stem cell types and recapitulate different processes, both share common challenges around robustness, accuracy, and reproducibility. Critically, organoids are not organs. This commentary serves to discuss these challenges, how they impact genuine utility, and shine a light on the need to improve the standards applied to all organoid approaches.

Original languageEnglish
JournalStem Cell Reports
Volume18
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)1255-1270
Number of pages16
ISSN2213-6711
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Research areas

  • Adult, Humans, Reproducibility of Results, Organoids, Pluripotent Stem Cells, Communication, Biology

ID: 356970812