The organoids provide a micro-environment that can accept and support the survival of cells from patients with blood malignancies
A cross section of a mini bone marrow organoids showing cells that produce blood platelets, in a network of blood vessels. Credit: Dr A Khan, University of Birmingham
Scientists from the University of Birmingham and Oxford University have made the first bone marrow ‘organoids’ that capture the key features of human bone marrow. The technology, which is the subject of a patent application filed by University of Birmingham Enterprise, will allow for the screening of multiple anti-cancer drugs at the same time, as well as testing personalised treatments for individual cancer patients.
A study, published in the journal Cancer Discovery, describes the new method, which results in an organoid that faithfully models the cellular, molecular and architectural features of myelopoietic (blood cell producing) bone marrow.
The research also showed that the organoids provide a micro-environment that can accept and support the survival of cells from patients with blood malignancies, including multiple myeloma cells, which are notoriously difficult to maintain outside the human body.
Dr Abdullah Khan, a Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and first author of the study, said “Remarkably, we found that the cells in their bone marrow organoids resemble real bone marrow cells not just in terms of their activity and function, but also in their architectural relationships - the cell types ‘self-organize’ and arrange themselves within the organoids just like they do in human bone marrow in the body.”
This life-like architecture enabled the team to study how the cells in the bone marrow interact to support normal blood cell production, and how this is disturbed in bone marrow fibrosis (myelofibrosis), where scar tissue builds up in the bone marrow, causing bone marrow failure. Bone marrow fibrosis can develop in patients with certain types of blood cancers and remains incurable.
Senior study author Professor Bethan Psaila, a haematology medical doctor as well as a research Group Leader at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, said “To properly understand how and why blood cancers develop, we need to use experimental systems that closely resemble how real human bone marrow works, which we haven’t really had before. It’s really exciting to now have this terrific system, as finally, we are able to study cancer directly using cells from our patients, rather than relying on animal models or other simpler systems that do not properly show us how the cancer is developing in the bone marrow in actual patients.”
Dr Khan also added, “This is a huge step forward, enabling insights into the growth patterns of cancer cells and potentially a more personalised approach to treatment. We now have a platform that we can use to test drugs on a ‘personalised medicine’ basis.
“Having developed and validated the model is the first crucial step, and in our ongoing collaborative work we will be working with others to better understand how the bone marrow works in healthy people, and what goes wrong when they have blood diseases.”
Dr Psaila added “We hope that this new technique will help accelerate the discovery and testing of new blood cancer treatments, getting improved drugs for our patients to clinical trials faster.”
For media information please contact Ruth Ashton, University of Birmingham Enterprise, email: R.C.Ashton@bham.ac.uk
For commercial enquiries, contact Helen Dunster, University of Birmingham Enterprise, email: H.Dunster@bham.ac.uk
About the University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
University of Birmingham Enterprise helps students and researchers turn their ideas into new services, products and enterprises that meet real-world needs. We also support innovators and entrepreneurs with mentoring, advice, and training and manage the University’s Academic Consultancy Service. View our portfolio of technologies available for licensing.
The University of Oxford
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the seventh year running, and 2 in the QS World Rankings 2022. At the heart of this success is our ground-breaking research and innovation.
Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.
Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 200 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past three years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.
The Radcliffe Department of Medicine is one of the two main departments of medicine at the University of Oxford, and aims to tackle some of the world’s biggest health challenges by integrating innovative basic biology with cutting edge clinical research. RDM has internationally renowned programmes in a range of areas including cardiovascular sciences, diabetes and endocrinology, immunology, haematology and pathology. https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/.
Henry Wellcome Fellow
Staff profile for Dr Abdullah Khan, Henry Wellcome Fellow, at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham
