Researchers recently used a lung-on-chip model to study human lung cancer cell growth in response to drugs and breathing. Although they found that breathing suppresses cancer cell growth and spreading, the breathing motion also promotes resistance to drug therapy targeting key proteins driving the cancer.
This human-relevant model can be used to further investigate how cancer cells persist and to develop drugs to overcome cancer drug resistance. This physiological-relevant chip model allows researchers to study lung cancer behavior in a human-relevant microenvironment and produces results that are consistent with those found in human clinical trials.
Hassell BA, Goyal G, Lee E, et al. Human organ chip models recapitulate orthotopic lung cancer growth, therapeutic responses, and tumor dormancy in vitro. Cell Rep.2017;21:508-516. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2017.09.043