Patient-derived tumor organoids for personalized medicine in a patient with rare hepatocellular carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation: a case report

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation (HCC-NED) is a very rare subtype of primary liver cancer. Treatment allocation in these patients therefore remains a challenge. Methods We report the case of a 74-year-old man with a HCC-NED. The tumor was surgically removed in curative intent. Histopathological work-up revealed poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (Edmondson-Steiner grade IV) with diffuse expression of neuroendocrine markers synaptophysin and chromogranin. Three months after resection, multifocal recurrence of the HCC-NED was observed. In the meantime, tumor organoids have been generated from the resected HCC-NED and extensively characterized. Sensitivity to a number of drugs approved for the treatment of HCC or neuroendocrine carcinomas was tested in vitro. Results Based on the results of the in vitro drug screening, etoposide and carboplatin are used as first line palliative combination treatment. With genomic analysis revealing a NTRK1 -mutation of unknown significance (kinase domain) and tumor organoids found to be sensitive to entrectinib, a pan-TRK inhibitor, the patient was treated with entrectinib as second line therapy. After only two weeks, treatment is discontinued due to deterioration of the patient’s general condition. Conclusion The rapid establishment of patient-derived tumor organoids allows in vitro drug testing and thereby personalized treatment choices, however clinical translation remains a challenge. To the best of our knowledge, this report provides a first proof-of-principle for using organoids for personalized medicine in this rare subtype of primary liver cancer.