Journal Article

Human tissues in a dish

Knoblich, Juergen A., Clevers, Hans, Bredenoord, Annelien L.

2017

Overview

Growing functional human tissues and organs would provide much needed material for regeneration and repair. New technologies are taking us in that direction. In addition to their use in regenerative medicine, stem cells that grow and morph into organ-like structures known as organoids can be used in drug development and toxicology testing. The potential developments and possibilities are numerous and affect not only biomedicine but also areas of ongoing ethical debate, such as animal experimentation, research on human embryos and fetuses, ethics review, and patient consent. Bredenoord et al. review how organoids affect existing ethical debates and how they raise novel ethical dilemmas and professional responsibilities. Science , this issue p. 10.1126/science.aaf9414 The ability to generate human tissues in vitro from stem cells has raised enormous expectations among the biomedical research community, patients, and the general public. These organoids enable studies of normal development and disease and allow the testing of compounds directly on human tissue. Organoids hold the promise to influence the entire innovation cycle in biomedical research. They affect fields that have been subjects of intense ethical debate, ranging from animal experiments and the use of embryonic or fetal human tissues to precision medicine, organoid transplantation, and gene therapy. However, organoid research also raises additional ethical questions that require reexamination and potential recalibration of ethical and legal policies. In this Review, we describe the current state of research and discuss the ethical implications of organoid technology.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science,The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subject: Animal Experimentation - ethics / Animal research / Animals / Biocompatibility / Biomedical materials / Biomedical research / Biomedicine / Brain / Clinical trials / Communication / Consent / Debates / Drug development / Drug discovery / Drug Use Testing / Embryo Research - ethics / Embryos / Ethical standards / Ethics / Experimentation / Feedback / Fetal Research - ethics / Fetuses / Gene Editing / Gene therapy / Genetic modification / Genome editing / Human performance / Human tissues / Humans / In vitro methods and tests / Innovation / Innovations / Medical innovations / Medical research / Medicine / Organoids / Organoids - cytology / Organoids - growth & development / Organoids - transplantation / Organs / Patients / Policies / Precision Medicine / Public concern / Public policy / R&D / Regeneration (physiology) / Regenerative medicine / Representations / Research & development / Research Methodology / REVIEW SUMMARY / Stem Cell Research - ethics / Stem cell transplantation / Stem cells / Studies / Tissue Culture Techniques - ethics / Tissue engineering / Tissues / Toxicology / Transplantation