Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 3, 2026
Generation of 3D Tumor Spheroids for Drug Evaluation Studies
Published on: February 24, 2023
Physiologically relevant 3D tumor models for therapeutic screening.
Renjian Xie1, Jianqiong Yang1, Xiaolu Lu1
1Key Laboratory of Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (Ministry of Education), School of Medical and Information Engineering, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, 341000, China; Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, 341000, China.
Patient-derived 3D tumor models offer a more accurate preclinical platform. These advanced models improve anti-cancer drug screening, reduce development failures, and accelerate cancer therapy discovery.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biotechnology
- Drug Discovery
Background:
- Tumor microenvironment heterogeneity challenges anti-cancer drug efficacy.
- Traditional in vitro models fail to replicate native tumor complexity, leading to poor clinical translation.
- There is a critical need for advanced models to understand and overcome tumor drug resistance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the link between tumor microenvironment complexity and drug resistance.
- To introduce biofabrication techniques for creating advanced 3D tumor models.
- To explore the applications of these models in cancer research and drug development.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on tumor microenvironment, drug resistance, and 3D tumor models.
- Discussion of biofabrication techniques including spheroids, organoids, tumor-on-a-chip, and 3D bioprinting.
- Exploration of applications across various cancer indications.
Main Results:
- Patient-derived 3D models (spheroids, organoids, tumor-on-a-chip, 3D bioprinting) better mimic tumor complexity.
- These advanced models enhance the predictive power of anti-cancer drug screening.
- 3D models show potential for improving translational accuracy and reducing drug development failures.
Conclusions:
- Advanced 3D tumor models are crucial for understanding drug resistance.
- Biofabrication techniques enable the creation of more physiologically relevant in vitro tumor models.
- These models promise to accelerate the discovery and development of effective cancer therapies.
