BIOS Lab on a Chip group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P. O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands.
Laboratory for Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology, Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine, Cancer Center Amsterdam and Amsterdam Gastroenterology and Metabolism, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
EBioMedicine. 2021 Apr;66:103303. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103303. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
Organs-on-chips are in vitro models in which human tissues are cultured in microfluidic compartments with a controlled, dynamic micro-environment. Specific organs-on-chips are being developed to mimic human tumors, but the validation of such 'cancer-on-chip' models for use in drug development is hampered by the complexity and variability of human tumors. An important step towards validation of cancer-on-chip technology could be to first mimic cancer xenograft models, which share multiple characteristics with human cancers but are significantly less complex. Here we review the relevant biological characteristics of a xenograft tumor and show that organ-on-chip technology is capable of mimicking many of these aspects. Actual comparisons between on-chip tumor growth and xenografts are promising but also demonstrate that further development and empirical validation is still needed. Validation of cancer-on-chip models to xenografts would not only represent an important milestone towards acceptance of cancer-on-chip technology, but could also improve drug discovery, personalized cancer medicine, and reduce animal testing.
器官芯片是在体外培养人类组织的微流控装置，其具有可控的动态微环境。特定的器官芯片被开发出来以模拟人类肿瘤，但由于人类肿瘤的复杂性和变异性，此类“肿瘤芯片”模型在药物开发中的验证受到阻碍。验证肿瘤芯片技术的重要步骤之一是首先模拟肿瘤异种移植模型，这些模型与人类癌症具有多种共同特征，但复杂程度显著降低。在这里，我们回顾了异种移植肿瘤的相关生物学特征，并表明器官芯片技术能够模拟其中的许多方面。在芯片上肿瘤生长与异种移植之间的实际比较很有前景，但也表明仍需要进一步的开发和经验验证。将肿瘤芯片模型与异种移植模型进行验证不仅代表了对肿瘤芯片技术的认可的一个重要里程碑，而且还可以改善药物发现、个性化癌症治疗，并减少动物试验。
