We designed a new way to build miniature fluidic devices to enable personalized cancer treatment

There is no “one-size-fits-all” treatment for patients living with cancer. Cancer occurs when normal cells in the body genetically mutate and transform into abnormal cells that divide uncontrollably.

In most cases, these cancer cells form a solid mass of tissue called a tumour. The genetic changes that cause a tumour can influence its composition, so two people may have the same type of cancer but different types of tumours. A treatment may then work for one patient but not another.

Tumour-on-a-chip technology enables us to recreate features of an individual patient’s tumour outside the body and test different treatments. The chips are biomedical devices small enough to fit into the palm of a hand. They contain tiny channels, called microfluidic systems, through which nutrient-rich fluids can flow to support tumour growth.

The technology is promising but difficult and expensive to manufacture. We have developed a simple, cost-effective way to build chips containing microfluidic systems, with the goal of making the technology more accessible.

We are also now exploring the use of this technology for childhood brain cancer.

Creating tumours outside the body

Treatments that work well in the laboratory are not always effective in patients. One reason is that tumours recreated in laboratory dishes typically do not include the complex tumour environment found inside the body.

In the body, tumour cells interact with cells and signals from their surroundings, which can alter how they behave and respond to a treatment.

The ability to sample cancer cells from a patient and grow the tumour within a complex environment outside the body could help doctors safely and efficiently test a wide range of personalized treatment options for that patient. This would help avoid ineffective treatments and save time in finding the right approach.

The microfluidic system inside the device allows nutrient-rich fluids to flow around the cells in a similar way to how blood flows through vessels. Tumour cells and other non-cancerous cell types normally found in the tumour vicinity can be grown together to create more complex tumour micro-environments.

Compared to the simple way in which tumours are typically grown in a laboratory dish, this approach may provide a more realistic way to study how tumours behave in living organs, and how they respond to different treatments.

It is important to note that tumour-on-a-chip technology cannot recreate the entire human body or replace clinical trials.

Democratizing technology

Although promising for personalized cancer research, tumour-on-a-chip technology is not always easy to access. Manufacturing these microfluidic devices can be complicated and expensive. Traditional methods often require costly materials, specialized equipment and facilities and trained experts. This creates a barrier to device manufacture for widespread adoption.

To lower this barrier, we have developed a simple and low-cost way to make miniature devices with very narrow flow channels. In our recent study, we showed the devices could be built using more accessible materials while still providing the conditions needed to grow and study complex, functional human tissue.

The significance goes beyond simply making the devices easier and cheaper to build. It is about democratizing the technology. Our work could make these devices affordable and accessible to more laboratories and eventually help move tumour-on-a-chip technology toward clinical use, where doctors can use it to identify the best treatment regimen for each patient.

Tackling childhood brain cancer

Tumour-on-a-chip technology has the potential to change how tumours are clinically treated. It can also be a valuable research tool. Researchers can use it to learn how tumours grow and change, find new diagnostic markers and develop new treatments.

We are now exploring how this technology could help us better understand childhood brain cancer.
Cancer cells, including those in brain tumours, release tiny particles called extracellular vesicles. These particles carry information about the cancer cells, and this information changes as the cancer develops. By studying these tiny particles over time, researchers can better understand how cancers grow and change.

Using this technology, we can create a model of a brain tumour outside the body and track the tiny particles it releases over time. This could provide a safer way to study how a tumour changes, as accessing brain tumour tissue from a patient over time can be invasive, painful and risky.

In the future, this information could help us find new ways to treat cancer. It might also help identify early signs of cancer and enable earlier diagnosis.