New device to predict response to cancer therapy. « Medicine in the Library

A team of experts from Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and the Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has designed a microfluidic device called microfluidic dynamic BH3 profiling (μDBP) that predicts cancer treatment efficacy quickly e automatic, using a reduced number of cells from biopsies and without requiring specialized technical personnel.

This system connects tumor cells with different therapeutic options to quickly and ex vivo identify which ones might be more effective in eliminating the tumor. Conceptually, it is very similar to susceptibility testing used to identify antibiotics to treat bacterial infections.

“DBP has been used to identify the efficacy of treatments on a preclinical and clinical scale in many different cancers, both solid and liquid. These studies used cell lines, animal models and primary samples with high predictive ability in all cases. However, this test has not yet been widely applied in hospitals“says Prof. Joan Montero.

Now, the new DBP microfluidic device, known as μDBPsolves several functional assay challenges: reduces the number of tumor cells required to test potential therapies ex vivo and automates the process to facilitate clinical application.
“Thanks to our μDBP microfluidic platform, equipped with small wells for cell seeding, we can reduce the number of cells needed to test a treatment. This is a decisive innovation to increase the number of testable drugs” – the researchers specify. “The biggest advantage of the μDBP device is also the automation of the whole process, which would help to implement this functional methodology on a clinical scale. All these advantages would facilitate the adoption of DBP in hospitals as a routine trial“.

Read the full text of the article:
Microfluidic-based dynamic BH3 profiling predicts anticancer treatment efficacy.
Manzano-Muñoz, A., Yeste, J., Ortega, MA et al.
npj Precise Onc. 6, 90 (2022).

Source: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona