Pathologic complete response to conversion therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma using patient-derived organoids: A case report

Background: For primary liver cancer, the key to conversion therapy depends on the effectiveness of drug treatment. Patient-derived tumor organoids have been demonstrated to improve the efficacy of conversion therapy by identifying individual-targeted effective drugs, but their clinical effects in liver cancer remain unknown.

Case summary: We described a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who achieved pathologic complete response (pCR) to conversion therapy guided by the patient-derived organoid (PDO) drug sensitivity testing. Despite insufficiency of the remaining liver volume after hepatectomy, the patient obtained tumor reduction after treatment with the PDO-sensitive drugs and successfully underwent radical surgical resection. Postoperatively, pCR was observed.

Conclusion: PDOs contributes to screening sensitive drugs for HCC patients to realize the personalized treatment and improve the conversion therapy efficacy.