The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049, China.
Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049, China.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2019 Feb;8(4):e1801406. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201801406. Epub 2019 Jan 23.
The orchestration of massive leukocytes in the immune system protects humans from invading pathogens and abnormal cells in the body. So far, researches focusing on leukocyte behaviors are performed based on both in vivo and in vitro models. The in vivo animal models are usually less controllable due to their extreme complexity and nonignorable species issue. Therefore, many researchers turn to in vitro models. With the advances in micro/nanofabrication, the microfluidic chip has emerged as a novel platform for model construction in multiple biomedical research fields. Specifically, the microfluidic chip is used to study leukocyte behaviors, due to its incomparable advantages in high throughput, precise control, and flexible integration. Moreover, the small size of the microstructures on the microfluidic chip can better mimic the native microenvironment of leukocytes, which contributes to a more reliable recapitulation. Herein are reviewed the recent advances in microfluidic chip-based leukocyte behavior analysis to provide an overview of this field. Detailed discussions are specifically focused on host defense against pathogens, immunodiagnosis, and immunotherapy studies on microfluidic chips. Finally, the current technical challenges are discussed, as well as possible innovations in this field to improve the related applications.
免疫系统中大量白细胞的协调作用保护人类免受入侵病原体和体内异常细胞的侵害。到目前为止，专注于白细胞行为的研究是基于体内和体外模型进行的。由于体内动物模型极其复杂且不可忽视物种问题，因此通常不太可控。因此，许多研究人员转向体外模型。随着微纳制造技术的进步，微流控芯片作为一种新型平台，在多个生物医学研究领域中崭露头角，用于构建模型。具体而言，由于微流控芯片在高通量、精确控制和灵活集成方面具有无与伦比的优势，因此被用于研究白细胞的行为。此外，微流控芯片上的微结构的小尺寸可以更好地模拟白细胞的天然微环境，有助于更可靠地再现。本文综述了基于微流控芯片的白细胞行为分析的最新进展，为该领域提供了一个概述。详细讨论特别侧重于微流控芯片上针对病原体的宿主防御、免疫诊断和免疫治疗研究。最后，讨论了当前的技术挑战以及该领域的可能创新，以改善相关应用。
