Bioprinting and its Use in Tumor-On-A-Chip Technology for Cancer Drug Screening: A Review

Abstract

The rising global incidence of cancer and high attrition rates of anticancer drugs make it imperative to design novel screening platforms to increase the success rate of chemotherapeutic agents. Advances in cell culture models from two-dimensional to three-dimensional platforms, along with microfluidics, have resulted in the creation of tumor-on-a-chip technology, which enables high-throughput molecular screening and helps to simulate the dynamic tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, advancements in bioprinting have allowed the structural and physiological aspects of the tumor to be recreated accurately and help to mimic cell-cell interactions and cell-extracellular matrix. This paper provides a comprehensive review of three-dimensional bioprinting to fabricate a tumor-on-a-chip platform to advance the discovery and screening of anticancer agents and provides a perspective on the challenges and future directions associated with the adoption of this technology to advance cancer research.

Applications of 3D Bioprinting Technology to Brain Cells and Brain Tumor Models: Special Emphasis to Glioblastoma

“…These devices can also keep cells viable for a prolonged period of time by flowing culture through the parenchymal or the endothelium-included vascular channels alone or both . Fluid flow in contact with tissue influences cell arrest in cancer cells, and invasion of tumor cells in the direction of flow regulates proliferation and gene expression . Moreover, shear stress produced by flowing liquid in the microchannels mimics the stress created by the blood in the vasculature .…”

“… 155 Fluid flow in contact with tissue influences cell arrest in cancer cells, and invasion of tumor cells in the direction of flow regulates proliferation and gene expression. 156 Moreover, shear stress produced by flowing liquid in the microchannels mimics the stress created by the blood in the vasculature. 100 Combining the benefits of microfluidic chips including perfusion and gas permeability with the 3D bioprinting approach allows the bioprinting of perfused and accurately positioned cultures with the desired structure for physiological research and drug screening at the organ scale.…”

Novel Approaches to Studying SLC13A5 Disease

“…Screening platforms can be directly bio-printed in a Petri dish or utilized in conjunction with microfluidic principles to create highly intricate organ models that closely mimic in vivo environments [144,145]. Crucially, this technology also enables high-resolution imaging of human cell migratory behavior in a 3D context [142,146].…”

Bioprinting on Organ-on-Chip: Development and Applications

“…Since 2016, it has been known that the bioprinting approach for fabricating biomimetic tumor-on-a-chip platforms shows great promise in accelerating cancer research [ 88 ]. These microfluidic-based tumor models that require successful dynamic culture of the artificially engineered tumor tissues, in specifically designed bioreactor chips that replicate tumor microenvironment and physiology, allow precise evaluation of drug toxicity and efficiency [ 89 , 90 , 91 ]. Current advances in bioprinting technology could enhance cancer treatment and tumor-on-chip throughput character, the first of which still having shortcomings in many areas due to a tumor’s tendency to metastasize, a high recurrence rate, and drug resistance development [ 90 ].…”