ReviewCells2025
Modeling Tumor Microenvironment Complexity In Vitro: Spheroids as Physiologically Relevant Tumor Models and Strategies for Their Analysis.
Review in Cells, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Advantages and research progress of three-dimensional culture systems for lung cancer drug screening (Review).Oncology letters · 2026Review
- Reprogramming the Tumor Oncobiosphere: Bioactive Nanohybrid Materials for Reversing Therapeutic Pseudo-Resistance.ACS omega · 2026Review
- Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy in Solid Tumors: Microenvironmental Obstacles and Translational 3D Models.Biology · 2026Review
- Experimental workflow to evaluate nanoparticles combined with photon and carbon-ion medical irradiations in spheroids.Discover nano · 2026Article
- New approach methodologies (NAMs) for preclinical and translational evaluation of mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) therapeutics.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2026Review
- Deconstructing cancer in 3D: models, mechanisms, and personalized solutions.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Spheroids reveal hypoxia‑driven spatial restriction of adenoviral infection.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Flavonoid Rutin Enhances Temozolomide Sensitivity in Glioblastoma Spheroids by Modulating Chemoresistance via PI3K/AKT, STAT3, Redox and Kynurenine Pathways, and Altering ECM Remodeling Associated with Reduced Migration.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mucoadhesive tumor-penetrating nanomedicine for intravesical chemo-immunotherapy against bladder cancer.Science advances · 2026Article
- Access to β-acetoxyselenides, perhydroindolones and anticancer piperidinones via blue LED-driven selenylation of unsaturated carboxamides.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Stem Cell-Derived Organoids for Cancer Therapy: Precision Medicine and Drug Selection.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Establishment of a Sensitized 3D Spheroid Cancer Cell Model for Enhanced Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery.Methods and protocols · 2026Article
- In Ovo CAM-Based Xenograft Model for Investigating Tumor Developmental Biology in Breast Cancer.Bio-protocol · 2026Article
- Synthesis and anticancer evaluation of novel thioimidazole derivatives bearing a trimethoxyphenyl moiety.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Polydopamine-Coated Surfaces Promote Adhesion, Migration, Proliferation, Chemoresistance, Stemness, and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines In Vitro via Integrin αInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Precision oncology in the treatment of patients with bone sarcomas: an up-to-date narrative review.Exploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2026Review
- Tools and Technologies for Studying Cancer Metabolism.Cancer treatment and research · 2026Review
- Understanding the immunomodulatory mechanisms for natural products that overcome tumor chemoresistance to platinum-based cancer drugs and other treatments.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Cytokine preactivation and ADCC: a potent strategy for enhancing human NK cell effector functions against 3D tumor models.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- High-Throughput 3D Bioprinted Organoids of Skin Cancer Utilized for Diagnosis and Personalized Therapy.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Drug delivery to solid tumors is challenged by multiple physiological barriers arising from the tumor microenvironment, including dense extracellular matrix, cellular heterogeneity, hypoxic gradients, and elevated interstitial fluid pressure. These features hinder the uniform distribution and accumulation of therapeutics, reducing treatment efficacy. Despite their widespread use, conventional two-dimensional monolayer cultures fail to reproduce these complexities, contributing to the poor translational predictability of many preclinical candidates. Three-dimensional multicellular tumor spheroids have emerged as more representative in vitro models that capture essential features of tumor architecture, stromal interactions, and microenvironmental resistance mechanisms. Spheroids exhibit spatially organized regions of proliferation, quiescence, and hypoxia, and can incorporate non-tumor cells to mimic tumor-stroma crosstalk. Advances in spheroid analysis now enable detailed evaluation of drug penetration, cellular migration, cytotoxic response, and molecular gradients using techniques such as optical and confocal imaging, large-particle flow cytometry, biochemical viability assays, and microfluidic integration. By combining physiological relevance with analytical accessibility, spheroid models support mechanistic studies of drug transport and efficacy under tumor-like conditions. Their adoption into routine preclinical workflows has the potential to improve translational accuracy while reducing reliance on animal models.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.