AI-Enhanced Patient-Derived Cancer Organoids: Integrating Machine Learning for Precision Oncology
AI-Enhanced Patient-Derived Cancer Organoids: Integrating Machine Learning for Precision Oncology
Elisa Heinzelmann,Francesco Piraino
TLDR
The current state of AI-driven PDO research is summarized, highlighting methodological approaches, preclinical and clinical applications, challenges, and emerging trends and proposing strategies for standardization, validation, and multi-modal integration to accelerate patient-specific therapeutic strategies.
Abstract
Cancer remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) are three-dimensional (3D) cultures that recapitulate tumor histology, genetics, and cellular heterogeneity, providing physiologically relevant preclinical models. Integrating PDOs with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) enables scalable analysis of high-dimensional datasets, including imaging, transcriptomics, proteomics, and pharmacological readouts. These approaches support prediction of drug sensitivity, biomarker discovery, and patient stratification. Recent advances—such as deep learning (DL), transfer learning, federated learning, and self-supervised learning—enhance phenotypic profiling, cross-institutional model training, and translational prediction. In this review, we summarize the current state of AI-driven PDO research, highlighting methodological approaches, preclinical and clinical applications, challenges, and emerging trends. We also propose strategies for standardization, validation, and multi-modal integration to accelerate patient-specific therapeutic strategies.
