Published Paper Details:

Cancer, across the globe, remains the second most common cause of deaths second only after Ischemic heart disease. Typically, a tumor microenvironment (TME) is a heterogenous collection of stromal cells, cancer cells, immune cells, endothelial cells and extracellular matter. Conventionally, most research works on cancer are based on 2D modelling which suffers an inherent limitation of not fully imitating the complexity of human tissues. The 3D bioprinting has gained the world's attention for its ability to mimic the pathophysiology of TME. This pioneering technology has the ability to imitate the TME and hence, simulate cancer tissues to be tested for possible treatments. This way the researchers can test customisable, replicable and reproducible constructs under in vitro environment and understand their in vivo behaviour. This way, the drugs can be tested and evaluated for their impact, side effects and results just like they would have been on in vivo human cells. At the same time, the technology has not been able to reach its true potential due to the challenges involved. Researchers maintain that accurate mimicking of the cancer tumours requires collaborative understanding and application of more than technology and manufacturing process. Despite recent developments in the field of bioprinting in breast cancer tissues, findings of several studies have failed to give out reproducible results. A collaborative multidisciplinary research and development effort is needed to make any significant development in both the 3D bioprinting technology and the printable media technology. Nearly all the researchers have agreed in the tremendous potential that the 3D bioprinting technology has in the field of medicine, medical treatment, research and development. The technology offers great promises for regenerative medicine wherein complex anatomical structures like skin, bone tissues, cartilages and so on can be customised and manufactured on demand. It is argued that the conventional methods are far less accurate compared to bioprinted TMEs however, more needs to be researched and developed in this area to increase its commercial viability. As our understanding of and expertise in this area improves, the effectiveness and accuracy of this technology shall also improve. The increased application of this technology shall increase the scale of production and hence, gradually bring down its cost.