- Sophisticated lab-grown tumours could help fast-track the search for new cancer treatments while reducing reliance on animal testing.
- The models recreate key features of tumours in the lab, offering a potentially quicker way to study how cancers grow and spread.
A review by University of Manchester scientists says sophisticated lab-grown tumours could help fast-track the search for new cancer treatments while reducing reliance on animal testing.
Publishing in the British Journal of Cancer today (insert date), the researchers assessed biomaterial-based cancer models using advanced materials known as hydrogels.
The models recreate key features of tumours in the lab, offering a potentially quicker way to study how cancers grow and spread.
The technology could also help scientists identify promising drugs more quickly by providing a realistic testing environment before treatments reach clinical trials.
However, the researchers stress that animal studies will remain an important part of cancer research for the foreseeable future, often providing valuable evidence about disease and drug safety.
And unlike animal research, the new technology cannot yet replicate the whole-body complexity needed to assess all aspects of drug efficacy and safety.
Hydrogels, which are derived from synthetic, plant, human or animal cells, act like a scaffold and closely mimic the environment surrounding cancer cells inside the human body.
The technology allows scientists to add cancer cells and other cell types to three-dimensional structures, creating miniature tumour ecosystems that reflect what happens in patients better than conventional two-dimensional models.
The three-dimensional tumour models are designed to mimic real cancers more closely, recreating key features such as cell interactions and drug resistance.
Two-dimensional cell cultures often fail to replicate the complexity of tumours, leading to promising drugs appearing effective in the laboratory only to disappoint in later testing.
Eve Tipple, a PhD researcher from The University of Manchester and lead author of the review, said: “Though animal research will remain for the foreseeable future, continued advances in biomaterials could pave the way for a new generation of cancer models that are relevant to human disease.
“This technology might help researchers make better decisions earlier in the drug development process and accelerate the arrival of life-saving treatments for cancer patients worldwide.
“The technology could cut the number of animals used in research, save millions of pounds, and speed up the search for life-saving treatments.”
Cancer remains one of the world’s biggest killers despite huge advances in treatment, and one major reason is that most new drugs never make it to patients.
For decades, researchers have relied on simple 2D cell cultures grown on flat plastic surfaces.
But these models fail to capture the complexity of real tumours, which contain intricate networks of cells, tissues and chemical signals.
As a result, drugs can appear highly effective in the lab only to disappoint in later testing.
Dr Tipple added: “Cancer is far more than a collection of diseased cells because the environment surrounding a tumour strongly influences how it grows, spreads and responds to treatment.
“Biomaterial-based models allow us to recreate many of these complex conditions in the laboratory with a level of control that was previously impossible.
“This gives researchers a powerful platform to study cancer biology, improve drug testing and ultimately help bring effective treatments closer to patients.”
- The paper Using biomaterial-based 3D in vitro cancer models to solve current clinical problems here DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-026-03392-3.
- Image shows a 3D model
