Ex Vivo Tumor-on-a-Chip Platforms to Study Intercellular Interactions within the Tumor Microenvironment

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Biotechnology
• Bioengineering

Background:

• Immunotherapies show promise for cancer treatment but are effective only for specific cancer types.
• Understanding tumor microenvironment (TME) interactions is key to expanding immunotherapy efficacy.
• The TME comprises immune cells, stromal cells, soluble factors, and extracellular matrix.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review advancements in tumor-on-a-chip technology for studying cancer-immune interactions.
• To highlight the utility of microphysiological tumor models in cancer research.
• To explore how these models can elucidate TME contributions to tumor progression.

Main Methods:

• Review of current tumor-on-a-chip technologies.
• Analysis of microfluidic platforms mimicking the TME.
• Examination of studies investigating tumor cell and immune cell interactions within engineered models.

Main Results:

• Tissue-engineered microphysiological tumor models provide patient-specific insights.
• Tumor-on-a-chip platforms enable systematic study of TME components.
• These models facilitate understanding of tumor cell-immune cell dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Tumor-on-a-chip technology is advancing the study of cancer-immune interactions.
• These platforms are vital for developing more effective and widely applicable immunotherapies.
• Further development of these models will deepen our understanding of the TME in cancer progression.