Figure 2.

Flow diagram of the organotypic tissue slice culture system for anticancer drug discovery. The organotypic tissue slice culture platform can be used to assess the tumoricidal efficacy of anticancer drugs. A. In the left panel, animal or patient-derived organotypic tissues are cut into the same figurate slices for the antitumor activity assessment of cancer drugs. Tumor slices are employed to evaluate the tumoricidal efficacy of anticancer drugs whereas normal tissue slices are used to observe the invasive ability of tumors and the efficacy of drugs against tumor invasiveness. Drug treatment is immediately initiated after the generation of the organotypic tissue slice culture system. The cell viability of slices is assessed on the 2-7th day of cultivation. B. The 3D-tumor slice culture (3D-TSC) system preserves the architecture and cell repertoire of the original tumor. This platform maximizes the retention of inter-tumor and intratumor heterogeneity, cellular-stromal interactions, and the complexity of the original tumor. The blood vessels on the slices will collapse within a short period after the cessation of blood circulation. Abbreviations: 3D-TSC, three-dimentional tumor slice culture; ECM, extracellular matrix; MSC, Mesenchymal cell; CAF, cancer-associated fibroblast; NK cell, natural killer cell; CSC, cancer stem cell.