Cholangiocarcinoma-On-Chip to Revolutionize Research and Precision Medicine

This microfluidic device accurately replicates the complex tumor microenvironment by incorporating primary cholangiocarcinoma cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), endothelial cells, and T cells from cholangiocarcinoma specimens from patients. Researchers used a three-channel chip architecture in this platform. This architecture allows for the co-culture of cholangiocarcinoma and cancer-associated fibroblasts flanked by endothelial cells to form a tubular structure. Overall, this micro-sized prototype intricately mimics the cancer’s microenvironment, featuring microchannels that accurately represent the disease. Researchers also noted that the cholangiocarcinoma-on-chip model underwent extensive characterization, demonstrating its ability to maintain the original cellular phenotype and function, increase hydrogel stiffness, and enhance extracellular matrix deposition, thus closely resembling in vivo cholangiocarcinoma characteristics. Importantly, including T cells from patient specimens enabled the assessment of immune cell interactions, with variations in T cell migration reflecting patient-specific tumor characteristics. <a href="https://medium.medicalnewsobserver.com/cholangiocarcinoma-on-chip-to-revolutionize-research-and-precision-medicine-64f71d0f3cb3">Read More</a>