Cancer-on-a-chip Platform to Study Metastatic Microenvironments

Abstract

Nowadays, increasing research efforts are focused on the development and production of integrated devices for biomedical analysis. Besides being typically disposable, these devices should ideally be compatible with a mass-production scale and have relatively low costs, while maintaining their biocompatibility. In this context, Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a very advantageous technology to produce inserts for the Injection Molding (IM) of thermoplastic devices. We here present a cancer-on-a-chip platform mimicking Neuroblastoma (NB) progression. NB, an embryonal malignancy of early childhood, has a grim prognosis also determined by its high tendency to form metastases. The device was thus designed and configured to allow performing different biological studies for a better understanding of cancer biology, with a particular focus on metastatic spread. The chip was produced by IM using the 3D mold technique for the fabrication of structured inserts. Ultimately, our system can be used as an in vitro tool to help elucidate fundamental mechanisms of cancer metastasis, as well as a platform for drug screening in biomimetic microenvironments.