Page 79 - OR-1-3
P. 79

medium. This medium can effectively reduce the risk of   evaluation.  At  present,  no  strict  and  universally  binding
            batch variation, ensure the reproducibility of the culture   operational and quality control standards have been
            system, and successfully realize the process of culturing   established globally to standardize the organoid culture
            iPSCs into liver organoids.                       process. The absence of such a standardized system will

               The culture protocol of organoids also suffers from   inevitably  introduce  additional  variables  into  organoid-
            great inter-laboratory variation, with significant differences   related research, thereby affecting the reliability and
            in the induction protocols (type of growth factors,   comparability of research results. At present, only a
            concentration, time of addition, etc.) used by different   limited number of guidelines for organoid quality control
            researchers during cell culture. This technical operation,   have been published. ISSCR has released the “Standards
            which  is  highly  dependent  on  the  operator’s  personal   for Human Stem Cell Use in Research,” standardizing
            experience, leads to poor experimental reproducibility. This   processes such as the sourcing of hPSCs/hASCs, ethical
            ultimately results in inconsistent organoid differentiation   approval,  and cell identity verification.  The European
            results, creating obvious inter-batch differences. The   Committee for Standardization and the European
            key  to addressing batch-to-batch  variability  in  organoid   Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, among
            culture processes is the use of high-throughput technology.   other organizations, have jointly published the “Roadmap
            High-throughput technology encompasses automated   for Organ-on-Chip Standardization,” comprehensively
            sample processing, microfluidics, OoC systems, and high-  deploying OoC standardization efforts and accelerating the
            content imaging techniques. By leveraging these high-  standardization process for OoC. The Organoid Standards
            throughput technologies, researchers can efficiently and   Initiative released the “Organoid Manufacturing and
            rapidly complete the culture and analysis steps in organoid   Application Guidelines” in 2024, systematically outlining the
            research, ensuring consistency and reproducibility across   complete process from organoid preparation to application,
                                   263
            experiments.  Schuster  et al.   developed  a  standardized,   to establish global unified standards for organoid culture,
            miniaturized, and automated high-throughput microfluidic   validation, and application. Although various institutions
            platform. This platform enables the cultivation of organoids   have introduced standards and specifications applicable
            or 3D cell cultures in a reliable environment with minimal   to their operations, a consensus on organoid standards
            reagent consumption and reproducible conditions, while   remains unavailable internationally.
            simultaneously monitoring and screening cell phenotypes.   5.3. Challenges facing clinical translation
            This allows researchers to obtain a large amount of reliable
                                             264
            experimental data at a lower cost. Li et al.  also developed   Although technological breakthroughs in MSK organoids
            a high-throughput polymethyl methacrylate microfluidic   are emerging in cutting-edge fields, their translation
            chip that can be used to study the growth of tumor spheroids   into preclinical and clinical applications is accompanied
                                                                                           265
            under different combinations of factor concentrations and   by serious and complex obstacles.  The first challenge
            to perform combined drug screening on tumor spheroids.   arises from the research starting point: cell source and
            These studies have demonstrated the importance of high-  informed consent. Organoid culture is highly dependent
            throughput technology in organoid research, effectively   on biological samples from human donors. During the
            addressing the shortcomings of traditional research   process of collecting samples, many volunteers who donate
            methods.                                          samples often find it difficult to understand the cutting-
                                                              edge concept of organoids and the complex application
               In addition to the lack of uniform standards in the   scenarios that their cells may undergo in the future.
            culture process, the characterization system of organoids   This dilemma is exacerbated by the prevalence of broad
            also faces the dilemma of insufficient standardization. At   consent.  Donors, especially those seeking treatment
                                                                    266
            present, there is a lack of clear and quantifiable evaluation   for MSK injuries or illnesses, may be unaware that their
            standards for the key parameters of organoids, such as the   samples will ultimately be used to construct organoid
            degree of mineralization of bone organoids, the spatial   models, which may in turn be involved in drug screening
            distribution  characteristics  of  proteoglycans  in  cartilage   chains, biomaterials development, and even grafts. It is even
            organoids, and the arrangement pattern of myotubes in   more challenging to anticipate the enormous commercial
            muscle organoids, all of which lack a unified evaluation   value that their samples may generate. This information
            system. Meanwhile, the expression profiles of key functional   asymmetry and ambiguity in informed consent constitute
            genes and proteins in MSK organoids at the molecular level   a significant contradiction in the current development
            have not yet been established as standardized databases.   of  organoids,  which  seriously  undermine  the  rights  and
            These standardization deficiencies have hindered the   interests of donors. A traceable and updatable electronic
            practical application of organoids.               consent system should be established for new scenarios,
               Overall, there is a lack of a standardized system for key   such as organoids, drug development, and commercial
            aspects,  such  as  cell  acquisition,  culture,  and  functional   transformation, where samples may be used in the future,


            Volume 1 Issue 3 (2025)                         21                           doi: 10.36922/OR025280024
   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84