Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is efficacious against many haematological malignancies, but challenges remain when using this cellular immunotherapy for treating solid tumours. Classical 2D <italic>in vitro</italic> models fail to recapitulate the complexity of the tumour...

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Main Authors: Karla Paterson, Sarah Paterson, Theresa Mulholland, Seth B. Coffelt, Michele Zagnoni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2022-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9783024/
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author Karla Paterson
Sarah Paterson
Theresa Mulholland
Seth B. Coffelt
Michele Zagnoni
author_facet Karla Paterson
Sarah Paterson
Theresa Mulholland
Seth B. Coffelt
Michele Zagnoni
author_sort Karla Paterson
collection DOAJ
description Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is efficacious against many haematological malignancies, but challenges remain when using this cellular immunotherapy for treating solid tumours. Classical 2D <italic>in vitro</italic> models fail to recapitulate the complexity of the tumour microenvironment, whilst <italic>in vivo</italic> models, such as patient-derived xenografts, are costly and labour intensive. Microfluidic technologies can provide miniaturized solutions to assess CAR-T therapies in 3D complex preclinical models of solid tumours. Here, we present a novel microfluidic immunoassay for the evaluation of CAR-T cell cytotoxicity and targeting specificity on 3D spheroids containing cancer cells and stromal cells. Monitoring the interaction between CAR-T cells and spheroid co-cultures, we show that CAR-T cells home towards target-expressing cancer cells and elicit a cytotoxic effect. Testing CAR-T cells in combination therapies, we show that CAR-T cell cytotoxicity is enhanced with anti-PD-L1 therapy and carboplatin chemotherapy. We propose this proof-of-concept microfluidic immunoassay as a material-saving, pre-clinical screening tool for quantification of cell therapy efficacy.
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publishDate 2022-01-01
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series IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology
spelling doaj-art-eaba4ea35d8546e281cfac93783da60e2025-08-20T03:15:51ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology2644-12762022-01-013869510.1109/OJEMB.2022.31783029783024Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination TherapyKarla Paterson0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7632-1308Sarah Paterson1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3441-5813Theresa Mulholland2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2837-0519Seth B. Coffelt3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2257-2862Michele Zagnoni4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3198-9491Centre for Microsystems and Photonics, EEE Department, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K.ScreenIn3D Limited, Technology and Innovation Centre, Glasgow, U.K.ScreenIn3D Limited, Technology and Innovation Centre, Glasgow, U.K.Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, U.K.Centre for Microsystems and Photonics, EEE Department, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K.Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is efficacious against many haematological malignancies, but challenges remain when using this cellular immunotherapy for treating solid tumours. Classical 2D <italic>in vitro</italic> models fail to recapitulate the complexity of the tumour microenvironment, whilst <italic>in vivo</italic> models, such as patient-derived xenografts, are costly and labour intensive. Microfluidic technologies can provide miniaturized solutions to assess CAR-T therapies in 3D complex preclinical models of solid tumours. Here, we present a novel microfluidic immunoassay for the evaluation of CAR-T cell cytotoxicity and targeting specificity on 3D spheroids containing cancer cells and stromal cells. Monitoring the interaction between CAR-T cells and spheroid co-cultures, we show that CAR-T cells home towards target-expressing cancer cells and elicit a cytotoxic effect. Testing CAR-T cells in combination therapies, we show that CAR-T cell cytotoxicity is enhanced with anti-PD-L1 therapy and carboplatin chemotherapy. We propose this proof-of-concept microfluidic immunoassay as a material-saving, pre-clinical screening tool for quantification of cell therapy efficacy.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9783024/Immunotherapylab-on-a-chipsolid tumour microenvironmentthree-dimensional in vitro complex model
spellingShingle Karla Paterson
Sarah Paterson
Theresa Mulholland
Seth B. Coffelt
Michele Zagnoni
Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy
IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology
Immunotherapy
lab-on-a-chip
solid tumour microenvironment
three-dimensional in vitro complex model
title Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy
title_full Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy
title_fullStr Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy
title_short Assessment of CAR-T Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in 3D Microfluidic Cancer Co-Culture Models for Combination Therapy
title_sort assessment of car t cell mediated cytotoxicity in 3d microfluidic cancer co culture models for combination therapy
topic Immunotherapy
lab-on-a-chip
solid tumour microenvironment
three-dimensional in vitro complex model
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9783024/
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