Modular immunocompetent multi-organ-chip integrating tumor, microenvironment and lymph node models to study cancer-immune interaction via non-invasive imaging

The major aim of this proposal is the development of a human multi-organ-chip that recapitulates immune-tumor interaction. The proposed solution is based on a modular multi-organ-platform that enables the circulation of immune cells between a lymph node model and tumor models integrating the tumor microenvironment (TME). Additionally the system allows for monitoring via non-invasive, molecular-sensitive imaging. By choosing a modular integration approach, we lay the groundwork for ‘mix-and-match’ multi-organ-chips that combine single organ modules already existing or in development from different developers.

Bridging the gap between pre-clinical models, human immunity, and clinical readouts remains a major challenge in cancer immunotherapy. Conventional readouts in immunooncology represent destructive, discontinuous, and often time-consuming analyses. Combining the OoC approach with non-invasive, molecular-sensitive imaging techniques will allow for in situ monitoring and identification of cellular and metabolic features upon tumor-immune interplay and real-time feedback on tumor responsiveness.

The investigation of these parameters and their correlation to well established readouts will contribute to unravelling the mechanisms involved in tumor-immune interaction and the identification of novel readouts or biomarkers for cancer prognosis and patient specific drug responsiveness.