Thompson Taylor J, Han Bumsoo
School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
Biomicrofluidics. 2018 Jun 8;12(4):042215. doi: 10.1063/1.5025891. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Metastasis is the ultimate cause of death among the vast majority of cancer patients. This process is comprised of multiple steps, including the migration of circulating cancer cells across microvasculature. This trans-endothelial migration involves the adhesion and eventual penetration of cancer cells to the vasculature of the target organ. Many of these mechanisms remain poorly understood due to poor control of pathophysiological conditions in tumor models. In this work, a microfluidic device was developed to support the culture and observation of engineered microvasculature with systematic control of the environmental characteristics. This device was then used to study the adhesion of circulating cancer cells to an endothelium under varying conditions to delineate the effects of hemodynamics and inflammations. The resulting understanding will help to establish a quantitative and biophysical mechanism of interactions between cancer cells and endothelium.
转移是绝大多数癌症患者死亡的最终原因。这个过程由多个步骤组成，包括循环癌细胞穿过微血管的迁移。这种跨内皮迁移涉及癌细胞与靶器官血管的黏附及最终穿透。由于肿瘤模型中病理生理条件控制不佳，许多这些机制仍知之甚少。在这项工作中，开发了一种微流控装置，以在系统控制环境特征的情况下支持工程化微血管的培养和观察。然后使用该装置研究循环癌细胞在不同条件下与内皮的黏附，以阐明血流动力学和炎症的影响。由此获得的认识将有助于建立癌细胞与内皮之间相互作用的定量和生物物理机制。
