Establishing a Microfluidic Tumor Slice Culture Platform to Study Drug Response

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Biotechnology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Accurate ex vivo tumor models are crucial for understanding tumor biology and predicting drug responses.
• Traditional cell culture models often lack the stromal components and in situ characteristics of native tumors.
• Microfluidic Organ-on-Chip (OoC) technologies offer a promising approach to mimic physiological conditions for tissue growth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a novel microfluidic Cancer-on-Chip (CoC) device for culturing tumor slices.
• To validate the device's performance in predicting therapeutic responses using patient-derived xenograft (PDX) breast cancer models.
• To present protocols for establishing tumor slice cultures and evaluating drug responses ex vivo.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel microfluidic OoC device for culturing thin tumor slices.
• Validation using human breast cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) tumor material.
• Detailed protocols for setting up tumor slice cultures and performing ex vivo drug response evaluation.

Main Results:

• The CoC device successfully cultured tumor slices under controlled in vitro conditions.
• The system demonstrated extensive validation for predicting therapeutic responses in PDX models.
• The methodology is amenable to primary tumor material from surgical biopsies.

Conclusions:

• The described microfluidic CoC device provides a valuable tool for ex vivo tumor slice culture.
• This platform enables accurate prediction of individual tumor drug responses and facilitates mechanistic cancer research.
• The technology supports the evaluation of new or repurposed cancer drugs and investigation of tumor evolution and immune responses.