In vitro 3D liver tumor microenvironment models for immune cell therapy optimization
Abstract
Despite diagnostic and therapeutic advances, liver cancer kills more than 18 million people every year worldwide, urging new strategies to model the disease and to improve the current therapeutic options. In vitro tumor models of human cancer continue to evolve, and they represent an important screening tool. However, there is a tremendous need to improve the physiological relevance and reliability of these in vitro models to fulfill today's research requirements for better understanding of cancer progression and treatment options at different stages of the disease. This review describes the hepatocellular carcinoma microenvironmental characteristics and illustrates the current immunotherapy strategy to fight the disease. Moreover, we present a recent collection of 2D and 3D in vitro liver cancer models and address the next generation of in vitro systems recapitulating the tumor microenvironment complexity in more detail.
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BibTeX
@article{lam2026vitro,
title = {{In vitro 3D liver tumor microenvironment models for immune cell therapy optimization}},
author = {Maxine Lam and Jose Antonio Reales-Calderon and Jin Rong Ow and Giulia Adriani and Andrea Pavesi},
journal = {APL Bioengineering},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1063/5.0057773},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05776436v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - In vitro 3D liver tumor microenvironment models for immune cell therapy optimization
AU - Maxine Lam
AU - Jose Antonio Reales-Calderon
AU - Jin Rong Ow
AU - Giulia Adriani
AU - Andrea Pavesi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
JO - APL Bioengineering
DO - 10.1063/5.0057773
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05776436v1
AB - Despite diagnostic and therapeutic advances, liver cancer kills more than 18 million people every year worldwide, urging new strategies to model the disease and to improve the current therapeutic options. In vitro tumor models of human cancer continue to evolve, and they represent an important screening tool. However, there is a tremendous need to improve the physiological relevance and reliability of these in vitro models to fulfill today's research requirements for better understanding of cancer progression and treatment options at different stages of the disease. This review describes the hepatocellular carcinoma microenvironmental characteristics and illustrates the current immunotherapy strategy to fight the disease. Moreover, we present a recent collection of 2D and 3D in vitro liver cancer models and address the next generation of in vitro systems recapitulating the tumor microenvironment complexity in more detail.
SN - 2473-2877
ER -