Tumours are surrounded by a host of noncancerous cells that fulfil both supportive and suppressive roles within the tumour microenvironment (TME). The drive to understand the biology behind each of these components has led to a rapid expansion in the number and use of 3D in vitro models, as researchers find ways to incorporate multiple cell types into physiomimetic configurations. The use and increasing complexity of these models does however demand many considerations. In this review we discuss approaches adopted to recapitulate complex tumour biology in tractable 3D models. We consider how these cell types can be sourced and combined and examine methods for the deconvolution of complex multicellular models into manageable and informative outputs.

肿瘤被大量非癌细胞包围，这些细胞在肿瘤微环境 (TME) 中发挥支持和抑制作用。随着研究人员找到将多种细胞类型整合到拟态配置中的方法，了解这些组件背后的生物学的动力导致 3D体外模型的数量和使用迅速扩大。然而，这些模型的使用和不断增加的复杂性确实需要许多考虑。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了在易于处理的 3D 模型中概括复杂肿瘤生物学的方法。我们考虑如何获取和组合这些细胞类型，并研究将复杂多细胞模型反卷积为可管理和信息丰富的输出的方法。