Bone marrow microenvironment and organ chips: Advances in tumor dormancy research

Bone metastasis presents a major challenge in oncology, often involving prolonged tumor dormancy within the complex bone marrow microenvironment (BMME). This dormancy, characterized by halted proliferation but sustained viability, poses risks for late recurrence and therapy resistance. Recent advancements in bone marrow-on-a-chip (BMOC) technology provide highly controllable, physiologically relevant biomimetic platforms to model the intricate cellular and molecular interactions governing BMME-regulated dormancy. This review focuses on BMOC-based approaches, examining their principles, distinct advantages, applications, and key findings in elucidating mechanisms of tumor dormancy regulation. Critically, it addresses current technical and biological limitations of BMOCs (e.g., replicating full immune component complexity) and propose concrete future directions for enhancing BMOC development and integration with complementary technologies. Enhanced understanding through refined BMOC technology could fundamentally uncover dormancy mechanisms and advance novel therapeutic strategies for metastatic control.