A new 3-dimensional culture model of human liver tumor organoids to test immunotherapy antibody candidates

Project summary

Erasmus MC-University Medical Centre (Rotterdam) and Merus NV, a clinical-stage biotechnological company in Utrecht, develop a new technique to culture mini-tumors, that are grown from surgically resected human liver tumors, to study the effects of a novel class of immunotherapy antibody candidates for treatment of liver cancer.

Merus NV plans to develop its Biclonics® antibody candidates into clinical testing, and Erasmus MC aims to develop the novel culture technique into a diagnostic assay that permits precision medicine in which every liver cancer patient can be treated with the best therapy.