Organotypic cultures represent tumor microenvironment for drug testing

Currently there are no cancer models that can accurately predict the clinical activity of a drug. Compounds are screened and optimized for anticancer activity in a series of in vitro and in vivo models, each of which has its own strengths and limitations. Organotypic models are three-dimensional in vitro representations of tumor microenvironment, which are more biologically relevant and technically challenging than cytotoxicity, clonogenic and spheroid assays, but less in comparison to in vivo models.

Section editors:Nikolina Vlatkovic and Mark Boyd – University of Liverpool, UK