Human Organoid System Accurately Models Adaptive Immune Response to Enable Drug Screening

Stanford researchers have developed a scalable, fully human in vitro system for more accurately modeling human adaptive immune responses.

The majority of inferences made about adaptive immune responses are based on the results of mouse studies. Animal models are a precursor for new vaccine and drug candidates prior to clinical trials. Although mouse models are valuable sources of information they can often be poor predictors of actual human immune responses. This highlights a need for platforms that more accurately assess human immune responses.

To address this, Stanford researchers developed a scalable, fully human in vitro system using spleen tissue. The system incorporates all the components of human immune responses, enabling detailed mechanistic analysis of adaptive immunity. This technology has commercial potential as a tool for drug screening (e.g. toxicity and efficacy) and as an adaptive immunity research tool.

Stage of research
In vitro data