Breast cancer-on-chip for patient-specific efficacy and safety testing of CAR-T cells

Authors:
Tengku Ibrahim Maulana , Claudia Teufel, Madalena Cipriano , Julia Roosz , Lisa Lazarevski , Francijna E van den Hil , Lukas Scheller , Valeria Orlova , André Koch , Michael Hudecek , Miriam Alb , Peter Loskill 
In:
Source: Cell Stem Cell
Publication Date: (2024)
Issue: 31: 7
Cells used in publication:
PBMC, human
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
CD4+, human
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
CD8+, human
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
Culture Media:
Experiment

Three days before the perfusion through the chips, each subset (i.e. CD4 and CD8) of cryopreserved control T and CAR-T cells were thawed, centrifuged at 300 x g for 8 min at 8 °C, counted and seeded in 24-well cell culture plates at a concentration of 3.0 x 106 cells per well. T cells were cultured for 3 days in X-VIVO 15 medium (BE02-060F; Lonza) supplemented with 5 ng/mL of rhIL-15 (130-093-955; Miltenyi Biotec), 1X Glutamax and 100 U/mL penicillin-streptomycin.

Abstract

Physiologically relevant human models that recapitulate the challenges of solid tumors and the tumor microenvironment (TME) are highly desired in the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell field. We developed a breast cancer-on-chip model with an integrated endothelial barrier that enables the transmigration of perfused immune cells, their infiltration into the tumor, and concomitant monitoring of cytokine release during perfused culture over a period of up to 8 days. Here, we exemplified its use for investigating CAR-T cell efficacy and the ability to control the immune reaction with a pharmacological on/off switch. Additionally, we integrated primary breast cancer organoids to study patient-specific CAR-T cell efficacy. The modular architecture of our tumor-on-chip paves the way for studying the role of other cell types in the TME and thus provides the potential for broad application in bench-to-bedside translation as well as acceleration of the preclinical development of CAR-T cell products.