Incorporating immune cells into organoids enables exploring previously inaccessible aspects of immune-epithelial interactions in vitro. In this review, we start by detailing how immune-organoid co-cultures can model mucosal immunity at each stage of a functional inflammatory response. We then describe how inflammatory organoid systems have informed our understanding of the features driving chronic stress and remodeling in autoimmune diseases and explore how patient-derived carcinoma organoids can be combined with tumor-relevant immune compartments for oncology research. We conclude by highlighting gaps that warrant focus. The ultimate aspiration is to develop systems where homeostatic dynamics are established, maintained, and perturbed in a fully mature differentiated state and where immune memory can be acquired to pathogenic challenges de novo. This would enable interrogation of immune processes with increased control and higher throughput for hypothesis testing, ultimately deepening our understanding of human immune biology in health and disease.
Harter et al. (2025) studied this question.