Scientists Utilizes 3D Printing Technology to Create A Complete Model of Glioblastoma

At present, the commonly used model for tumor research is tumor cells grown in 2D culture dishes, but this model lacks the interaction between tumor and stroma, and cannot well simulate the complex biological environment of tumor growth. This is also the main reason why many anti-tumor drugs show good effects in the laboratory stage, but the actual effects in clinical trials are not good.

To this end, the Israeli team of scientists used 3D printing technology to create a model that can simulate the various biological characteristics of neuroblastoma. The research was published in the journal of Science Advances. Scientists use fibrin-glioblastoma bio-ink composed of glioblastoma cells, astrocytes and microglia to construct a tumor microenvironment, using bio-ink containing pericytes and endothelial cells to create perfusible blood vessels.

Researchers have observed that this 3D bioprinting model can simulate the cell heterogeneity, cell-cell interaction and spatial tomographic features of glioblastoma, and can reproduce various in vivo features of glioblastoma, including growth kinetics, invasion ability, treatment response and genetic characteristics, etc.

Researchers believe that the 3D bioprinting model can better simulate the clinical scenes of various cancer types and may become a reliable technology platform for preclinical research and drug screening.