Modeling the precise interaction of glioblastoma with human brain region-specific organoids

Authors: Qi Fan, Hanze Wang, Tianyi Gu, Huihui Liu, Peng Deng, Bo Li, Hui Yang, Ying Mao, and Zhicheng Shao

iScience, February 06, 2024

Advanced in vitro cell models are enabling deep insights into tumor-neuron interactions in glioma brain cancers, but the impact of glioblastoma in different brain regions is not fully understood. In this study, scientists co-culture glioblastoma organoids with dorsal forebrain organoids (DO) and ventral forebrain organoids (VO), using Axion’s next-generation Maestro Pro multielectrode array (MEA) and other methods to assess the functional effects of this integration and investigate glioma-mediated effects on neural function. Overall, the results demonstrated “preferential crosstalk between GBs and DOs, which may lead to glioblastoma invasion and neural hyper-excitability,”—findings that may pave the way to the development of more targeted therapeutics for glioblastoma in the future.