Microengineering a Cancer-on-a-Chip Model for Cancerimmunotherapy Study Research Project

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly aggressive cancer that is most
prevalent for pancreatic malignancy. The early diagnosis has little efficiency in detecting
the PDAC, which causes no symptoms in the early stage until it becomes progressively
deteriorates, passing the most curable period. In recent, immune checkpoint blockades
(ICB) have proven to be an efficient therapeutic strategy in the treatment of tumors.
Despite it, PDAC therapy is a continuous clinical challenge: tumor immunosuppression
and microenvironmental heterogeneity serve as potential barriers to PDAC ICB treatment.
To further analyze the ICB treatment on PDAC and mechanisms of resistance, an accurate

methodology is imperative. This research aims to integrate the techniques of organ-on-
a-chip and state-of-the-art organoids to develop a 3-dimensional vitro platform, which

deeply mimics integrated organ-level functions as well as complex disease processes,
for more precise immunotherapy screening. Such ‘PDAC-on-a-chip’ model allows
researchers to develop and test various personalized immunotherapeutic strategies for
PDAC patients, better retain the inherent trait and quantify the immunotherapy efficacy.
We believe this powerful biomimetic model could help us gain a more accurate dissection
of the microenvironmental heterogeneity and further improve patient response to ICB.