Chemotherapy can be very difficult on patients, but finding out that the cancer didn’t respond to the chemo is even more disturbing. Soon there may be a way to try different chemo agents on a patient’s own tumor cells taken during a biopsy. Researchers at Purdue University have developed a microfluidic system inside which tumor cells can be exposed to therapeutic agents.
The device, dubbed tumor-microenvironment-on-chip (T-MOC), is about two inches (4.5 centimeters) on a side. Inside, tumor cells are grown in a special matrix, resulting in a relatively natural, 3D environment. The interstitial fluid that flows between tumor cells is also added to best recreate the typical tissue environment. Moreover, the team introduced simulated pharmacokinetics of liver and kidneys to the system, clearing out the chemo agent and reducing its concentration, just like the body normally would.
The researchers tested the device at detecting how well doxorubicin, a common chemo agent, worked on two breast cancer types. They did the same with breast cancer mouse models and demonstrated that the microfluidic device is as good as animals for this kind of work.
More work needs to be done on different cancer types, as well as larger studies, but perhaps one day oncologists will have a much easier time selecting which chemotherapy to apply.
Study in Journal of Controlled Release: Differential response to doxorubicin in breast cancer subtypes simulated by a microfluidic tumor model…
Via: Purdue…
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