Tumor Microenvironment on a Chip: The Progress and Future Perspective

Jungho Ahn; Yoshitaka J Sei; Noo Li Jeon; YongTae Kim

doi:10.3390/bioengineering4030064

Tumor Microenvironment on a Chip: The Progress and Future Perspective

Bioengineering (Basel). 2017 Jul 21;4(3):64. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering4030064.

Authors

Jungho Ahn^{1

2}, Yoshitaka J Sei^{3

4}, Noo Li Jeon⁵, YongTae Kim^{6

7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. ahnjungho0513@gmail.com.
² School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea. ahnjungho0513@gmail.com.
³ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. yoshi.john@gmail.com.
⁴ Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. yoshi.john@gmail.com.
⁵ School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea. njeon@snu.ac.kr.
⁶ George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. ytkim@gatech.edu.
⁷ Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. ytkim@gatech.edu.
⁸ Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. ytkim@gatech.edu.
⁹ Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. ytkim@gatech.edu.

Abstract

Tumors develop in intricate microenvironments required for their sustained growth, invasion, and metastasis. The tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in the malignant or drug resistant nature of tumors, becoming a promising therapeutic target. Microengineered physiological systems capable of mimicking tumor environments are one emerging platform that allows for quantitative and reproducible characterization of tumor responses with pathophysiological relevance. This review highlights the recent advancements of engineered tumor microenvironment systems that enable the unprecedented mechanistic examination of cancer progression and metastasis. We discuss the progress and future perspective of these microengineered biomimetic approaches for anticancer drug prescreening applications.

Keywords: drug screening; in vitro disease models; microfluidics; nanomedicine; organ-on-a-chip; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

T32 GM008433/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States