Three-Dimensional Cell Culture Systems in Pediatric and Adult Brain Tumor Precision Medicine

Abstract

Primary brain tumors often possess a high intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity, which fosters insufficient treatment response for high-grade neoplasms, leading to a dismal prognosis. Recent years have seen the emergence of patient-specific three-dimensional in vitro models, including organoids. They can mimic primary parenteral tumors more closely in their histological, transcriptional, and mutational characteristics, thus approximating their intratumoral heterogeneity better. These models have been established for entities including glioblastoma and medulloblastoma. They have proven themselves to be reliable platforms for studying tumor generation, tumor–TME interactions, and prediction of patient-specific responses to establish treatment regimens and new personalized therapeutics. In this review, we outline current 3D cell culture models for adult and pediatric brain tumors, explore their current limitations, and summarize their applications in precision oncology.

Keywords

• organoids
• brain tumors
• precision medicine
• pediatric
• glioblastoma
• cellular heterogeneity