Cancer-on-chip: a breakthrough organ-on-a-chip technology in cancer cell modeling

• Published in: Medical & biological engineering & computing
• Main Authors: Nejati, Babak, Shahhosseini, Reza, Hajiabbasi, Mobasher, Ardabili, Nastaran Safavi, Baktash, Kosar Bagtashi, Alivirdiloo, Vahid, Moradi, Sadegh, Rad, Mohammadreza Farhadi, Rahimi, Fatemeh, Farani, Marzieh Ramezani, Ghazi, Farhood, Mobed, Ahmad, Alipourfard, Iraj
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 14.10.2024
• Subjects: Bioprinting; Cancer cell modeling; Tumor microenvironment; Cancer on-chip; Organ-on-a-chip (OoC); 2D/3D culture; Microfluidics
• ISSN: 0140-0118; 1741-0444; 1741-0444
• DOI: 10.1007/s11517-024-03199-5

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The unclear molecular mechanisms and complex in vivo microenvironment of tumors make it difficult to clarify the nature of cancer and develop effective treatments. Therefore, the development of new methods to effectively treat cancer is urgently needed and of great importance. Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) systems could be the breakthrough technology sought by the pharmaceutical industry to address ever-increasing research and development costs. The past decade has seen significant advances in the spatial modeling of cancer therapeutics related to OoC technology, improving physiological exposition criteria. This article aims to summarize the latest achievements and research results of cancer cell treatment simulated in a 3D microenvironment using OoC technology. To this end, we will first discuss the OoC system in detail and then demonstrate the latest findings of the cancer cell treatment study by Ooc and how this technique can potentially optimize better modeling of the tumor. The prospects of OoC systems in the treatment of cancer cells and their advantages and limitations are also among the other points discussed in this study.