{"id":48172,"date":"2023-07-24T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=48172"},"modified":"2023-07-24T12:02:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T10:02:56","slug":"3d-bioprinting-improve-cancer-treatment-240720234","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-bioprinting-improve-cancer-treatment-240720234\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Bioprinting Could Make Cancer Treatment More Effective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-printing-applications-in-the-fight-against-breast-cancer-141020215\/\">Cancer<\/a> is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Indeed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it accounted for about 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020 alone, or nearly one in six deaths. However, though research into treatment is constantly ongoing, there is still much to be done in working towards a cure. But, there may be some new hope. Scientists from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) and the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science and ICT have announced a new 3D <a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/bioprinting-projects-3d-printed-organs-070420205\/\">bioprinting<\/a> technology which they claim could be a new method for treating cancer, notably solid tumors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Defined as malignant tumors composed of vascular and connective tissues with solidity and form, solid tissues can be difficult to treat, notably with immunotherapy. This treatment uses substances to boost the immune system, notably natural killer cells (NK cells) a leukocyte that kills cells that are harmful to the human body. Immunotherapy is often recommended for patients with advanced stages of cancer according to the Cancer Center and has been known to be extremely effective in treating certain types of cancers. Hence, this latest research.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48193\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/hydrogels.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48193\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48193\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/hydrogels.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/hydrogels.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/hydrogels-600x343.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/hydrogels-160x91.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-48193\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Korean researchers are using 3D bioprinting to treat solid tumors (photo credits: Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM))<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In essence, in immunotherapy, NK cells are injected via intravenous injection. However, in this newest method, 3D printed hydrogels encapsulate the NK cells. This helps to prevent the loss of NK cells, thus enabling a larger majority of said cells to home in on the tumor cells themselves. This is achieved by pores that form over time in the hydrogel, made from sodium alginate and gelatin, allowing NK cells to be released later on. And as they have been injected in the hydrogel, printed and then cultured, the cell viability and activity of the NK cells is also enhanced.<\/p><div class=\"dnati-inside-article-leaderboard\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"dnati-3666929046\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/us06web.zoom.us\/webinar\/register\/3717757396787\/WN_sBfwcCHoQSq1mEANYpWa6Q\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"LB (3)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/LB-3.gif\" alt=\"\"  width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And so far the research has been promising. In the research paper, it was noted that the hydrogel created an appropriate environment for the NK cells thus making 3D bioprinting of the NK cells a viable potential therapy and paving the way for even more effective treatment for cancer. Principal Researcher Su A Park of KIMM concluded, <em>&#8220;This technology can help to significantly improve the functionality of NK cells that are used for cancer treatment. We expect to contribute to the treatment of cancer patients through this newly developed technology.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>You can download the full research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/news-releases\/994872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_48195\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/cancer_research_image.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48195\" class=\"wp-image-48195 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/cancer_research_image.jpg\" alt=\"The process for treating cancer via bioprinting\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/cancer_research_image.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/cancer_research_image-600x343.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/cancer_research_image-160x91.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-48195\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credits: Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM)<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What do you think of the use of 3D bioprinting to treat cancer? Let us know in a comment below or on our<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/4987104\/\">\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/3Dnatives\/\">\u00a0Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/3Dnatives_en\/\">\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0pages! Don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly<a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-printing-newsletter\/\">\u00a0Newsletter here<\/a>, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox! You can also find all our videos on our<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMWrNpdLOXa7BffRKXZoaZw\">\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>*Cover Photo Credits: <span style=\"font-size: 1em;\">University of Louvain<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"dnati-after-content\" id=\"dnati-2957378573\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/amcoe.org\/event\/design-for-additive-manufacturing-design-at-elevation\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"DfAM course-850&#215;150\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-600x106.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-768x136.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-160x28.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Indeed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), it accounted for about 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020 alone, or nearly one in six deaths. However, though research into treatment&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6077,"featured_media":48185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medical","category-news","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48208,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48172\/revisions\/48208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}