In Vitro Evaluation of Glycoengineered RSV-F in the Human Artificial Lymph Node Reactor

Modeling Structural Elements and Functional Responses to Lymphatic-Delivered Cues in a Murine Lymph Node on a Chip

Lymph nodes (LNs) are organs of the immune system, critical for maintenance of homeostasis and initiation of immune responses, yet there are few models that accurately recapitulate LN functions in vitro. To tackle this issue, an engineered murine LN (eLN) has been developed, replicating key cellular components of the mouse LN; incorporating primary murine lymphocytes, fibroblastic reticular cells, and lymphatic endothelial cells. T and B cell compartments are incorporated within the eLN that mimic LN cortex and paracortex architectures. When challenged, the eLN elicits both robust inflammatory responses and antigen-specific immune activation, showing that the system can differentiate between non specific and antigen-specific stimulation and can be monitored in real time. Beyond immune responses, this model also enables interrogation of changes in stromal cells, thus permitting investigations of all LN cellular components in homeostasis and different disease settings, such as cancer. Here, how LN behavior can be influenced by murine melanoma-derived factors is presented. In conclusion, the eLN model presents a promising platform for in vitro study of LN biology that will enhance understanding of stromal and immune responses in the murine LN, and in doing so will enable development of novel therapeutic strategies to improve LN responses in disease.

Lymph Node-on-Chip Technology: Cutting-Edge Advances in Immune Microenvironment Simulation

Organ-on-a-chip technology is attracting growing interest across various domains as a crucial platform for drug screening and testing and is set to play a significant role in precision medicine research. Lymph nodes, being intricately structured organs essential for the body's adaptive immune responses to antigens and foreign particles, are pivotal in assessing the immunotoxicity of novel pharmaceuticals. Significant progress has been made in research on the structure and function of the lymphatic system. However, there is still an urgent need to develop prospective tools and techniques to delve deeper into its role in various diseases' pathological and physiological processes and to develop corresponding immunotherapeutic therapies. Organ chips can accurately reproduce the specific functional areas in lymph nodes to better simulate the complex microstructure of lymph nodes and the interactions between different immune cells, which is convenient for studying specific biological processes. This paper reviews existing lymph node chips and their design approaches. It discusses the applications of the above systems in modeling immune cell motility, cell-cell interactions, vaccine responses, drug testing, and cancer research. Finally, we summarize the challenges that current research faces in terms of structure, cell source, and extracellular matrix simulation of lymph nodes, and we provide an outlook on the future direction of integrated immune system chips.

Cancer-on-chip models for metastasis: importance of the tumor microenvironment

Cancer-on-chip (CoC) models, based on microfluidic chips harboring chambers for 3D tumor-cell culture, enable us to create a controlled tumor microenvironment (TME). CoC models are therefore increasingly used to systematically study effects of the TME on the various steps in cancer metastasis. Moreover, CoC models have great potential for developing novel cancer therapies and for predicting patient-specific response to cancer treatments. We review recent developments in CoC models, focusing on three main TME components: (i) the anisotropic extracellular matrix (ECM) architectures, (ii) the vasculature, and (iii) the immune system. We aim to provide guidance to biologists to choose the best CoC approach for addressing questions about the role of the TME in metastasis, and to inspire engineers to develop novel CoC technologies.

Lymph Nodes-On-Chip: Promising Immune Platforms for Pharmacological and Toxicological Applications

Organs-on-chip are gaining increasing attention as promising platforms for drug screening and testing applications. However, lymph nodes-on-chip options remain limited although the lymph node is one of the main determinants of the immunotoxicity of newly developed pharmacological drugs. In this review, we describe existing biomimetic lymph nodes-on-chip, their design, and their physiological relevance to pharmacology and shed the light on future directions associated with lymph node-on-chip design and implementation in drug discovery and development.

Microfluidics for Drug Development: From Synthesis to Evaluation

Drug development is a long process whose main content includes drug synthesis, drug delivery, and drug evaluation. Compared with conventional drug development procedures, microfluidics has emerged as a revolutionary technology in that it offers a miniaturized and highly controllable environment for bio(chemical) reactions to take place. It is also compatible with analytical strategies to implement integrated and high-throughput screening and evaluations. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the entire microfluidics-based drug development system, from drug synthesis to drug evaluation. The challenges in the current status and the prospects for future development are also discussed. We believe that this review will promote communications throughout diversified scientific and engineering communities that will continue contributing to this burgeoning field.

Towards the development of human immune-system-on-a-chip platforms

Organ-on-a-chip (OoCs) platforms could revolutionize drug discovery and might ultimately become essential tools for precision therapy. Although many single-organ and interconnected systems have been described, the immune system has been comparatively neglected, despite its pervasive role in the body and the trend towards newer therapeutic products (i.e., complex biologics, nanoparticles, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and engineered T cells) that often cause, or are based on, immune reactions. In this review, we recapitulate some distinctive features of the immune system before reviewing microfluidic devices that mimic lymphoid organs or other organs and/or tissues with an integrated immune system component.