three-dimensional culture

Three-dimensional culture systems are widely viewed as an innovative tool to model cellular interactions, differentiation, and cell fate during both normal epithelial development and carcinoma progression.

Specific cancer-relevant biological problems can be uniquely explored in 3-D culture systems, including:
1) cell death and survival during lumen formation
2) stem cells and epithelial differentiation
3) apicobasal polarity
4) invasion and metastasis.

See also

 cancer biology
 organotypic models of cancers

References

 The third dimension bridges the gap between cell culture and live tissue. Pampaloni F, Reynaud EG, Stelzer EH. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2007 Oct;8(10):839-45. PMID: #17684528#

 Life isn’t flat: taking cancer biology to the next dimension. Smalley KS, Lioni M, Herlyn M. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2006 Sep-Oct;42(8-9):242-7. PMID: #17163781#