Recapitulating Tumor Hypoxia in a Cleanroom-Free, Liquid-Pinning-Based Microfluidic Tumor Model.

ABSTRACT: In tumors, the metabolic demand of cancer cells often outpaces oxygen supply, resulting in a gradient of tumor hypoxia accompanied with heterogeneous resistance to cancer therapeutics. Models recapitulating tumor hypoxia are therefore essential for developing more effective cancer therapeutics. Existing in vitro models often fail to capture the spatial heterogeneity of tumor hypoxia or involve high-cost, complex fabrication/handling techniques. Here, we designed a highly tunable microfluidic device that induces hypoxia through natural cell metabolism and oxygen diffusion barriers. We adopted a cleanroom-free, micromilling-replica-molding strategy and a microfluidic liquid-pinning approach to streamline the fabrication and tumor model establishment. We also implemented a thin-film oxygen di

SUBMITTER: Oh JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9299272 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature