Tumor-on-chip platforms for breast cancer continuum concept modeling

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cancer Research
• Proteomics

Background:

• The Breast Cancer Continuum Concept (BCCC) outlines key stages of breast cancer progression.
• Previous work established BCCC, including cell and proteomic continuum concepts.
• On-chip models recapitulate in vitro the principal mechanisms and events involved in BCCC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and analyze the biomedical roles of on-chip platforms in studying breast cancer metastasis.
• To highlight the potential of integrating on-chip platforms with proteomics for biomarker discovery.
• To discuss the application of these platforms in personalized medicine and early detection.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing breast cancer-on-chip (BCoC), breast cancer liquid biopsy-on-chip (BCLBoC), and breast cancer metastasis-on-chip (BCMoC) models.
• Co-cultivation of multiple cell lines to reproduce hallmark features of breast cancer.
• Studying drug efficacy and toxicity using tumor-on-chip platforms.

Main Results:

• BCoC, BCLBoC, and BCMoC platforms successfully recapitulate in vitro key events of BCCC, including proliferation, cell communication, invasion, migration, and immune escape.
• These platforms facilitate the study of chemotherapeutic drugs and nutraceuticals.
• Integration with proteomics offers insights into the metastatic cascade and biomarker discovery.

Conclusions:

• On-chip platforms are powerful tools for studying the metastatic cascade in breast cancer.
• Future integration with proteomics can lead to novel biomarker discovery for early detection and risk assessment.
• Multi-organ-on-chip systems hold great potential for personalized and precision medicine in breast cancer treatment.