Three-Dimensional Printing for Cancer Applications: Research Landscape and Technologies

Abstract

As a variety of novel technologies, 3D printing has been considerably applied in the field of health care, including cancer treatment. With its fast prototyping nature, 3D printing could transform basic oncology discoveries to clinical use quickly, speed up and even revolutionise the whole drug discovery and development process. This literature review provides insight into the up-to-date applications of 3D printing on cancer research and treatment, from fundamental research and drug discovery to drug development and clinical applications. These include 3D printing of anticancer pharmaceutics, 3D-bioprinted cancer cell models and customised nonbiological medical devices. Finally, the challenges of 3D printing for cancer applications are elaborated, and the future of 3D-printed medical applications is envisioned.

A 3D Bioprinted in vitro Model of Neuroblastoma Recapitulates Dynamic Tumor‐Endothelial Cell Interactions Contributing to Solid Tumor Aggressive Behavior

“…[ 10b ] Although these models have made great progress in replicating the natural features of tumors with clinical relevance, they are often limited by the lack of perfusable vascular channels, which are essential for mimicking the dynamic TME, or physiologically relevant solid tumor size and density. [ 7 , 12 , 21 ] Cancer cell suspension with high cell density has been used to create cancer droplets or spheroids [ 75 ] ; however, the approach presented here is distinct from the naturally grown tumor aggregates, with limited ability to recapitulate the dynamic and vascular TME. Direct printing of 3D tumor analogues, using bioinks laden with cells, has made great strides, yet they require rigorous printing control and adjustment and can suffer significantly from suboptimal biomanufacturing efficiency and reproducibility, as well as altered cell viability and/or phenotype.…”

“…[ 11b,c,e ] Nevertheless, current bioprinted cancer models still face several significant challenges which include 1) low structural fidelity and reproducibility due to the inherent physical and biological properties of hydrogel bioinks; 2) low printed cell density which is far less than the physiological tumor circumstance; and 3) relatively simple tissue architectures which rarely recapitulate the complex, dynamic, and vascularized TME. [ 12 ] These hurdles have limited the capacity of current bioprinted models for in‐depth analysis of the mechanisms underlying cancer progression and response to therapy, [ 4 , 13 ] raising the great need for creating more reproducible and robust vascularized TME platforms.…”

Three-Dimensional (3D) Printing in Cancer Therapy and Diagnostics: Current Status and Future Perspectives

“…Generally, 2D models are used to understand cancer biology and conduct drug discoveries. However, 2D models do not replicate the in vivo tumor micro-environment, and animal models are also costly and have limitations due to species differences [142]. In this regard, a low-cost 3D printed model that resembles an in vivo system is receiving a lot of interest, and, in this section, we will be discussing how 3D printing techniques help to develop in vitro models.…”

Immune features of the peritumoral stroma in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

“…Also, PBMCs from a healthy donor were isolated from peripheral blood using Ficoll Paque Plus (GE17-1440-03, Merck, Germany) according to manufacturers' instructions. The 3D bioprinting process was performed using the pneumatic extrusion-based bioprinter Bio X ™ (Cellink, Goteborg, Sweden), as described before (8)(9)(10). Before printing, a cell suspension was created using a 1:1 mixture of PBMCs and patient-derived tumor cells in the respective culture medium.…”