Tumour-simulating chip to test cancer treatments

The tumour-microenvironment-on-chip (T-MOC) device will allow researchers to study the complex environment surrounding tumours and the barriers that prevent the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents, said Bumsoo Han, a Purdue University associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Researchers are trying to perfect so-called targeted delivery methods using various agents, including nanometre-size structures, to selectively attack tumour tissue.

According to the Indiana-based university, one approach is to design nanoparticles small enough to pass through pores in blood vessels surrounding tumours but too large to pass though the pores of vessels in healthy tissue. The endothelial cells that make up healthy blood vessels are well organised and have small pores in the tight junctions between them. However, the endothelial cells in blood vessels around tumours are irregular and misshapen, with larger pores in the gaps between the cells.

‘It was thought that if nanoparticles were designed to be the right size they could selectively move toward only the tumour,’ Han said in a statement.