Journal Article Epublish 1 citation
PubMed: 39940796 DOI: 10.3390/ijms26031028
A Novel Tumor on Chip Mimicking the Breast Cancer Microenvironment for Dynamic Drug Screening.
Int J Mol Sci 26(3)
Authors: Maria Testa, Miriam Gaggianesi, Caterina D'Accardo, Gaetana Porcelli, Alice Turdo, Chiara Di Marco, Bernardo Patella, Simone Di Franco, Chiara Modica, Sebastiano Di Bella, Francesco Lopresti, Giorgio Stassi, Vincenzo La Carrubba, Matilde Todaro
Affiliations
- Department of Biomedicina, Neuroscienze e Diagnostica avanzata (Bind), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
- Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
- Department of Precision Medicine in Medical, Surgical, and Critical Areas (Me.Pre.C.C.), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
- Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (PROMISE), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
Abstract
In light of the emerging breakthroughs in cancer biology, drug discovery, and personalized medicine, Tumor-on-Chip (ToC) platforms have become pivotal tools in current biomedical research. This study introduced a novel rapid prototyping approach for the fabrication of a ToC device using laser-patterned poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layers integrated with a polylactic acid (PLA) electrospun scaffold, enabling dynamic drug delivery and the assessment of therapeutic efficacy in cancer cells. Traditional drug screening methods, such as conventional cell cultures, mimic certain aspects of cancer progression but fail to capture critical features of the tumor microenvironment (TME). While animal models offer a closer approximation of tumor complexity, they are limited in their ability to predict human drug responses. Here, we evaluated the ability of our ToC device to recapitulate the interactions between cancer and TME cells and its efficacy in evaluating the drug response of breast cancer cells. The functional design of the proposed ToC system offered substantial potential for a wide range of applications in cancer research, significantly accelerating the preclinical assessment of new therapeutic agents.
MeSH
Cells, Breast Neoplasms, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Neoplasms, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Breast, Drug Evaluation, Preclinical, Research, Therapeutics