Bioengineered microfluidic blood-brain barrier models in oncology research

Robin Augustine; Ahmad H Aqel; Sumama Nuthana Kalva; K S Joshy; Ajisha Nayeem; Anwarul Hasan

doi:10.1016/j.tranon.2021.101087

Bioengineered microfluidic blood-brain barrier models in oncology research

Transl Oncol. 2021 Jul;14(7):101087. doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2021.101087. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

Authors

Robin Augustine¹, Ahmad H Aqel², Sumama Nuthana Kalva², K S Joshy², Ajisha Nayeem³, Anwarul Hasan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar; Biomedical Research Center (BRC), Qatar University, PO Box 2713 Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: robin.augustine@qu.edu.qa.
² Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar; Biomedical Research Center (BRC), Qatar University, PO Box 2713 Doha, Qatar.
³ Department of Biotechnology, St. Mary's College, Thrissur 680020, Kerala, India.
⁴ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar; Biomedical Research Center (BRC), Qatar University, PO Box 2713 Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: ahasan@qu.edu.qa.

Abstract

Metastasis is the major reason for most brain tumors with up to a 50% chance of occurrence in patients with other types of malignancies. Brain metastasis occurs if cancer cells succeed to cross the 'blood-brain barrier' (BBB). Moreover, changes in the structure and function of BBB can lead to the onset and progression of diseases including neurological disorders and brain-metastases. Generating BBB models with structural and functional features of intact BBB is highly important to better understand the molecular mechanism of such ailments and finding novel therapeutic agents targeting them. Hence, researchers are developing novel in vitro BBB platforms that can recapitulate the structural and functional characteristics of BBB. Brain endothelial cells-based in vitro BBB models have thus been developed to investigate the mechanism of brain metastasis through BBB and facilitate the testing of brain targeted anticancer drugs. Bioengineered constructs integrated with microfluidic platforms are vital tools for recapitulating the features of BBB in vitro closely as possible. In this review, we outline the fundamentals of BBB biology, recent developments in the microfluidic BBB platforms, and provide a concise discussion of diverse types of bioengineered BBB models with an emphasis on the application of them in brain metastasis and cancer research in general. We also provide insights into the challenges and prospects of the current bioengineered microfluidic platforms in cancer research.

Keywords: BBB models; Blood-brain barrier; Cancer; Metastasis; Microenvironment; Microfluidics.

Publication types

Review