Patient-derived tumor organoids predict responses to irinotecan-based neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for LARC

Adding irinotecan to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer increases the pathologic complete response rate but also is associated with toxicity. Robust biomarkers to predict response to irinotecan-based nCRT are needed to select the right patients. A study at Fudan University (Shanghai, China) found that irinotecan sensitivy of patient-derived organoids was predictive for response of locally advanced rectal cancer to irinotecan-based neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, and for three-year disease-free survival and three-year distant metastasis-free survival after irinotecan-based nCRT.