Abstract
Glioma, as an aggressive type of cancer, accounts for virtually 80% of malignant brain tumors. Despite advances in therapeutic approaches, the long-term survival of glioma patients is poor (it is usually fatal within 12–14 months). Glioma-on-chip platforms, with continuous perfusion, mimic in vivo metabolic functions of cancer cells for analytical purposes. This offers an unprecedented opportunity for understanding the underlying reasons that arise glioma, determining the most effective radiotherapy approach, testing different drug combinations, and screening conceivable side effects of drugs on other organs. Glioma-on-chip technologies can ultimately enhance the efficacy of treatments, promote the survival rate of patients, and pave a path for personalized medicine. In this perspective paper, we briefly review the latest developments of glioma-on-chip technologies, such as therapy applications, drug screening, and cell behavior studies, and discuss the current challenges as well as future research directions in this field.
Highlights
Being responsible for almost 3% of cancer-related death annually in the U.S [1], glioma is the most aggressive form of brain tumor [2]
Gliomas are tumors originated from the glial cells, such as astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and ependymal cells within the central nervous system which accounts for 80% of all malignant brain tumors
There are limitations related to the nonhomogeneous tumor environment, it has been demonstrated that OOC platforms can be used for probing potential therapies such as magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT) [34], reconstituting tumor microenvironment including peripheral tissues and cells [48,109], and studying cell migration [9], invasion [41], angiogenesis [39], autophagy mechanisms [50] and drug responses [47,48,49]
Summary
Being responsible for almost 3% of cancer-related death annually in the U.S [1], glioma is the most aggressive form of brain tumor [2]. Conventional two-dimensional (2D) in vitro cell culture models provide beneficial information regarding cell analysis and drug responses, while they fail to recapitulate cell morphology, complex in-vivo structures, cell-cell, and cell-matrix interactions [6]. Integration of three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures with microfluidic chips recapitulates the in-vivo-like perfusion (i.e., biological fluid flow to supply nutrients and remove wastes) and structure (with porous extracellular matrix (ECM)), offers patient-driven models for personalized drug tests, and improves cell proliferation, survival, and mechano-responses, promoting our understanding of glioma and developing hybrid patient-specific drug combinations leading to superior tumor-killing capability [9]. The versatility of microfluidic devices enables researchers to study a diverse set of biological problems including single-cell biophysical characterization, miniaturized lab-on-chip platforms, and on-chip recapitulation of the organ physiological factors [16]. Common microfluidic chip fabrication techniques and materials are presented
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