Journal Article Review Epublish 22 citations
PubMed: 37592292 DOI: 10.1186/s13036-023-00372-6
Cancer-on-chip: a 3D model for the study of the tumor microenvironment.
J Biol Eng 17(1):53
Authors: Elisa Cauli, Michela Anna Polidoro, Simona Marzorati, Claudio Bernardi, Marco Rasponi, Ana Lleo
Affiliations
- Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico Di Milano, Milan, Italy. Accelera Srl, Nerviano, Milan, Italy.
- Hepatobiliary Immunopathology Laboratory, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
- Accelera Srl, Nerviano, Milan, Italy.
- Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico Di Milano, Milan, Italy.
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy.
- Division of Internal Medicine and Hepatology, Department of Gastroenterology, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
Abstract
The approval of anticancer therapeutic strategies is still slowed down by the lack of models able to faithfully reproduce in vivo cancer physiology. On one hand, the conventional in vitro models fail to recapitulate the organ and tissue structures, the fluid flows, and the mechanical stimuli characterizing the human body compartments. On the other hand, in vivo animal models cannot reproduce the typical human tumor microenvironment, essential to study cancer behavior and progression. This study reviews the cancer-on-chips as one of the most promising tools to model and investigate the tumor microenvironment and metastasis. We also described how cancer-on-chip devices have been developed and implemented to study the most common primary cancers and their metastatic sites. Pros and cons of this technology are then discussed highlighting the future challenges to close the gap between the pre-clinical and clinical studies and accelerate the approval of new anticancer therapies in humans.
MeSH
Therapeutics, Neoplasms, Tumor Microenvironment
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