Recent advances in purpose-built 3D bioprinted cancer models for drug development.

INTRODUCTION: There is an ongoing effort to develop novel therapies for cancer; however, there is often a failure in current preclinical models to translate clinical therapeutic outcomes. This disconnect could be remedied with more physiologically accurate preclinical models. We highlight a selection of recent studies that demonstrate how innovative 3-dimensional (3D) techniques enable more realistic in vitro modeling and accurate evaluation of anti-cancer drug responses.

AREAS COVERED: Papers discussed were selected with the aim of highlighting recent significant advances towards more translationally relevant models. 75 articles were initially compiled through online journal database searches dating from 2018 to the present, and refined to include only works which illustrated significant improvements towards clinical relevance, leaving 11 articles. We cover advances including use of tissue fragmentation and spatial mapping to replicate tumor-stroma interactions, and manipulation of bioink chemistry to mimic native tissue stiffness. We describe novel technologies for generating 3D biochemical and hypoxic gradients and integration of sacrificial bioinks to generate perfusable microvasculature. We cover the applicability of these innovative models for testing various anti-cancer therapeutics and predicting patient-specific drug sensitivities.

EXPERT OPINION: We discuss the potential of 3D bioprinted models for predicting patient-specific responses in developing tailored therapies towards precision oncology.