Three-dimensional ex vivo co-culture models of the leukaemic bone marrow niche for functional drug testing

•The bone marrow microenvironment protects leukaemia stem cells against therapeutic drugs.•3D ex vivo co-culture models advance translational AML research.•3D ex vivo AML co-cultures are promising preclinical models for drug testing.•It is still to be determined how faithfully ex vivo AML models can replicate the in vivo drug response.