Introduction to bioprinting of in vitro cancer models

Cancer models are essential in cancer research and for new drug development pipelines. However, conventional cancer tissue models have failed to capture the human cancer physiology, thus hindering drug discovery. The major challenge is the establishment of physiologically relevant cancer models that reflect the complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME is a highly complex milieu composed of diverse factors that are associated with cancer progression and metastasis, as well as with the development of cancer resistance to therapeutics. To emulate the TME, 3D bioprinting has emerged as a way to create engineered cancer tissue models. Bioprinted cancer tissue models have the potential to recapitulate cancer pathology and increased drug resistance in an organ-mimicking 3D environment. This review overviews the bioprinting technologies used for the engineering of cancer tissue models and provides a future perspective on bioprinting to further advance cancer research.