Perspectives for 3D-Bioprinting in Modeling of Tumor Immune Evasion

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The ability of cancer cells to evade the immunological response of the host has been recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer. Better understanding of this phenomenon is vital for generating more successful anticancer therapies. However, due to the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, classical cell culture techniques have proven insufficient for many aspects of the immune evasion-related research. High hopes for the studies on the tumor immune evasion are currently raised by the recent advances in 3D-bioprinting—a method that allows for precise fabrication of structures containing multiple cell types suspended in biomaterials mimicking the native extracellular matrix. Herein, we discuss the state-of-art 3D-bioprinting techniques and their applications in oncological research, including both existing and potential uses in modeling of immune evasion and response to immunotherapies. ABSTRACT: In a living organism, cancer cells function in a specific microenvironment, where they exchange numerous physical and biochemical cues with other cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Immune evasion is a clinically relevant phenomenon, in which cancer cells are able to direct this interchange of signals against the immune effector cells and to generate an immunosuppressive environment favoring their own survival. A proper understanding of this phenomenon is substantial for generating more successful anticancer therapies. However, classical cell culture systems are unable to sufficiently recapture the dynamic nature and complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME) to be of satisfactory use for comprehensive studies on mechanisms of tumor immune evasion. In turn, 3D-bioprinting is a rapidly evolving manufacture technique, in which it is possible to generate finely detailed structures comprised of multiple cell types and biomaterials serving as ECM-analogues. In this review, we focus on currently used 3D-bioprinting techniques, their applications in the TME research, and potential uses of 3D-bioprinting in modeling of tumor immune evasion and response to immunotherapies.