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The Tumor Microenvironment

The Tumor Microenvironment

Every normal cell or tissue is embedded in a complex local environment called stroma, consisting of different cell types, a basal membrane, and blood vessels. As normal cells mutate and develop into cancer cells, their local environment also changes to allow cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of a complex cellular matrix of stromal cells and the developing tumor. The cross-talk between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells is critical to disrupt normal tissue...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2026

Physiologic Patient Derived 3D Spheroids for Anti-neoplastic Drug Screening to Target Cancer Stem Cells

Physiologic Patient Derived 3D Spheroids for Anti-neoplastic Drug Screening to Target Cancer Stem Cells

Published on: July 5, 2019

Screening therapeutic EMT blocking agents in a three-dimensional microenvironment.

Amir R Aref¹, Ruby Yun-Ju Huang, Weimiao Yu

¹BioSystems and Micromechanics IRG, S16-07, SMART, Singapore 117543, Singapore.

Integrative Biology : Quantitative Biosciences From Nano to Macro

|November 23, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study introduces a 3D microfluidic assay to better test drugs targeting epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key process in cancer metastasis. The new system shows drug responses differ significantly from traditional 2D methods.

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A Combined 3D Tissue Engineered In Vitro/In Silico Lung Tumor Model for Predicting Drug Effectiveness in Specific Mutational Backgrounds

A Combined 3D Tissue Engineered In Vitro/In Silico Lung Tumor Model for Predicting Drug Effectiveness in Specific Mutational Backgrounds

Published on: April 6, 2016

Area of Science:

Oncology
Biotechnology
Cell Biology

Background:

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial for carcinoma cell dissemination and metastasis, a major cause of cancer mortality.
Current therapies are ineffective against metastatic cancer, highlighting the need for improved therapeutic strategies and drug discovery methods.
Existing assays for EMT lack 3D context and cell-cell interactions, limiting their predictive power for drug efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and validate a novel microfluidic assay for evaluating drugs targeting EMT.
To assess the efficacy of drug candidates in a more biologically relevant 3D tumor microenvironment.
To compare drug responses in 3D co-culture models versus traditional 2D monocultures.

Main Methods:

A microfluidic system was designed to culture carcinoma cell spheroids within a 3D hydrogel scaffold.
The 3D system integrated tumor spheroids in co-culture with an endothelial cell monolayer.
Drug candidates targeting EMT pathways were tested, measuring the dispersion of A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell spheroids as a key metric.

Main Results:

Significant differences in drug response were observed between 2D and 3D culture systems.
Co-culture conditions in the 3D system revealed distinct drug efficacy compared to monocultures.
The microfluidic assay effectively differentiated drug effects in a complex tumor microenvironment.

Conclusions:

The developed 3D microfluidic co-culture system provides a more accurate platform for evaluating anti-metastatic drugs.
This assay can aid in identifying targeted drugs that interfere with EMT or revert mesenchymal phenotypes.
The findings underscore the importance of 3D and co-culture models for advancing cancer therapeutics.