A Microfluidic Platform Revealing Interactions between Leukocytes and Cancer Cells on Topographic Micropatterns

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Immunology
• Cancer Research

Background:

• Immunoassays are crucial for understanding immune-cancer interactions, informing cancer diagnosis and treatment strategies.
• Analyzing intercellular communication within diverse tumor microenvironments requires advanced monitoring tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a microfluidic live-cell immunoassay integrated with microtopography for monitoring immune-cancer cell interactions.
• To enable simultaneous cytokine detection and investigation of cell migration behaviors in response to topographical cues.

Main Methods:

• Co-culturing immune and cancer cells on tunable flat or micrograting substrates.
• On-chip cytokine quantification using a microbead-based sandwich assay with peristaltic mixer assistance.
• Assessing cell migration and immunological states on different substrates.

Main Results:

• The assay allows simultaneous detection of cytokines within a 5-5000 pg/mL range.
• Demonstrated biocompatibility of immune and nasopharyngeal cancer cell co-cultures.
• Revealed topography-induced intercellular and cytokine responses, validating the platform's efficiency and precision.

Conclusions:

• The integrated microfluidic platform offers efficient, broad-range, and precise on-chip cytokine detection.
• Eliminates manual sampling, enabling continuous monitoring without perturbing microenvironments.
• Potential clinical significance for early immune diagnosis, personalized immunotherapy, and precision medicine.