Two-way communication between ex vivo tissues on a microfluidic chip: application to tumor-lymph node interaction

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Organ-on-a-chip technology
• Cancer immunology

Background:

• In vivo organ communication is complex and vital for understanding disease mechanisms.
• Current models lack the ability to fully replicate inter-organ crosstalk.
• Tumor immunity and its suppression are poorly understood processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel multi-compartment microfluidic chip for modeling inter-organ communication.
• To assess the chip's capability in recreating tumor-induced immune suppression.
• To provide an experimentally accessible platform for studying ex vivo inter-organ interactions.

Main Methods:

• A multi-compartment microfluidic chip was designed to recirculate media between two ex vivo tissue samples.
• Protein release and capture were quantified using artificial tissues and model proteins to test on-chip communication.
• Murine lymph node slices were co-cultured with tumor or healthy tissue on-chip to model tumor-immune interactions.

Main Results:

• The microfluidic chip successfully supported continuous media recirculation and demonstrated cross-talk between tissue samples via secreted factors.
• On-chip co-culture of lymph node and tumor tissues showed signs of immune suppression compared to co-culture with healthy tissue.
• The system proved capable of modeling key features of tumor-immune interactions ex vivo.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic system enables ex vivo co-culture of paired tissue slices under continuous flow, facilitating inter-organ communication studies.
• This platform has significant potential for modeling complex biological processes, particularly in tumor immunology.
• The chip offers full experimental accessibility to tissues and media, advancing the development of body-on-a-chip technologies.