Inflammation-on-a-Chip: Probing the Immune System Ex Vivo

Inflammation is the typical result of activating the host immune system against pathogens, and it helps to clear microbes from tissues. However, inflammation can occur in the absence of pathogens, contributing to tissue damage and leading to disease. Understanding how immune cells coordinate their activities to initiate, modulate, and terminate inflammation is key to developing effective interventions to preserve health and combat diseases. Towards this goal, inflammation-on-a-chip tools provide unique features that greatly benefit the study of inflammation. They reconstitute tissue environments in microfabricated devices and enable real-time, high-resolution observations and quantification of cellular activities relevant to inflammation. We review here recent advances in inflammation-on-a-chip technologies and highlight the biological insights and clinical applications enabled by these emerging tools.