Printing the Pathway Forward in Bone Metastatic Cancer Research: Applications of 3D Engineered Models and Bioprinted Scaffolds to Recapitulate the Bone–Tumor Niche

摘要

Breast cancer commonly migrates to the skeleton. Once patients have breast cancer in their bones, their quality of life is poor. Research has shown that the environment and structure of bone helps support metastatic breast cancer cell growth. Current models used in laboratories to study breast cancer that has migrated to bone do not include all the components of what happens in the human body. This is because technology in the past was limiting. Now, however, a new technology exists, called three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, that “prints” living cells in geometries like the ones within the human body, to replicate a more realistic environment. In cancer research, 3D bioprinting allows researchers to more closely replicate events that occur when cancer cells migrate from a primary location to a secondary site, as well as model events in the environment of the secondary site. 3D bioprinting may also be used instead of animal models in some cases, and may speed up new drug discovery for cancer treatment.