Long-term cultured microvascular networks on chip for tumor vascularization research and drug testing

The vascular structure of the tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an essential role in the process of metastasis. In vitro microvascular structures that can be maintained for a long time will greatly promote metastasis research. In this study, we constructed a mimicking breast cancer invasion model based on a microfluidic chip platform, and the maintenance time of the self-assembled microvascular networks significantly improved by culturing with fibroblasts (up to 13 days). Using this model, we quantified the invasion ability of breast cancer cells and angiogenesis sprouts caused by cancer cells, and the intravasation behavior of cancer cells was also observed in sprouts. We found that cancer cells could significantly cause angiogenesis by promoting sprouting behaviors of the self-assembled human umbilical vein endothelial cells, which, in turn, promoted the invasion behavior of cancer cells. The drug test results showed that the drug resistance of the widely used anti-cancer drugs 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and Doxorubicin (DOX) in the 3D model was higher than that in the 2D model. Meanwhile, we also proved that 5-FU and DOX had the effect of destroying tumor blood vessels. The anti-angiogenic drug Apatinib (VEGFR inhibitor) enhanced the drug effect of DOX on MDA-MB-231 cells, further proving the promoting effect of angiogenesis on the invasion ability of cancer cells. These results indicate that our model is of great value in reconstructing TME and drug testing in vitro.