3D Bioprinted Patient-Derived Tumor Avatars for Individualized Drug Screening

Organ transplantation remains limited by donor shortage, driving advances in bioengineering technologies such as 3D bioprinting. While this technology holds promise for fabricating functional tissue constructs, its application in modeling human diseases—particularly cancer—offers a direct pathway toward personalized medicine.

In this study, we extended 3D bioprinting to develop patient-derived tumor models for individualized drug testing. Using primary human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, we established 3D bioprinted HCC (3DP-HCC) models that maintain parental tumor characteristics during long-term culture. These models enabled visual and quantitative assessment of drug response, supporting high-throughput evaluation of therapeutic candidates. We further expanded the platform to include colorectal, ovarian, pancreatic, gastric, glioma, lung, prostate, and other solid tumors, constructing a pan-tumor 3D bioprinted drug sensitivity assay.

Across multiple cancer types, we observed significant inter-patient heterogeneity in drug response, with a median of six drug classes tested per patient. The platform demonstrated robust reproducibility and stability in multicenter validation, underscoring its utility for personalized therapy selection.

In summary, we have developed a scalable, patient-specific 3D bioprinted tumor platform that captures inter-individual variation in drug sensitivity. This approach provides a clinically relevant tool for advancing precision oncology and optimizing therapeutic strategies for cancer patients.

Dr. Yang Huayu is a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Liver Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. She earned her bachelor's degree from Peking University Health Science Center in 2002 and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the same institution in 2007. In 2011, she completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Surgery at PUMCH. Since then, she has been engaged in scientific research in the Department of Liver Surgery at PUMCH. Her primary research focuses on the construction of artificial organs based on advanced biofabrication technologies and studies on precision therapy for tumors. She has undertaken and participated in multiple national-level scientific research projects, published over 100 SCI papers, including three ESI highly cited papers, with a total citation count exceeding 2,800. Her representative works have been published in renowned journals such as GUT, Nature Communications, Science Advances, and Biomaterials, etc. She drafted the first domestic and international group standard for 3D bioprinted tumor models. She has received the Third Prize of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award and serves as an editorial board member for the Hepatobiliary Surgery and Nutrition, a committee member of the Liver Cancer Professional Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, and a committee member of the Biofabrication Engineering Branch of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society.