Table 1.
Overview of the tumor models for anticancer drug discovery
| Models | Cell culture | Organoid | PDX* | 3D-ALI | 3D-TSC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Successful establishment rate | Low | Moderate | Variable | High | High |
| Generation time | Moderate | Moderate | Long | Short | Short |
| The minimal tumor size requirement | Small | Small | Big | Small | Big |
| TME recapitulation | - | - | -/++ | ++ | ++ |
| Multicellular drug resistance | - | ++ | ++ | + | ++ |
| Intact morphology | - | - | ++ | + | ++ |
| Reproducibility | ++ | ++ | ++ | - | - |
| High-throughput drug screening | ++ | + | - | - | - |
The inapplicability is marked with “-”, the applicability is marked with “+”, and the robust applicability is marked with “++”.
*PDX can recapitulate tumor microenvironment from the humanized mice rather than the severe immunodeficient mice.
Abbreviations: PDX, patient-derived xenograft; 3D-ALI, three-dimentional air-liquid interface method; 3D-TSC, three-dimentional tumor slice culture; TIME, tumor immune microenvironment.