A NAMs-Based Microphysiological System for Metastasis and Mechanobiology Studies

Microscopic observations demonstrated that lung cancer cells successfully metastasize to bone stroma and disrupt the bone microenvironment, like the <i>in vivo</i> effect. ELISA and qRT-PCR analyses also demonstrated an increase in associated mesenchymal cytokines and genes. Furthermore, an increase in epithelial genes related to proliferation was observed in the lung chamber. ELISA analysis also revealed an increase in epithelial genes. All analyses show that lung cancer cells successfully metastasized to the bone chamber, highlighting the physiological relevance of our platform in simulating <i>in vivo</i> metastatic behavior. It's interesting to note that the lung chamber's parallel upregulation of markers of epithelial proliferation points to a spatially separate but biologically related dynamic where primary tumor dissemination and secondary site colonization take place simultaneously.¹¹ The lung cancer metastasis-on-a-chip platform can be adapted to study how a broad range of exposome factors, such as environmental pollutants, dietary components, and lifestyle-related exposures, affect cancer progression and metastasis in besides modeling tumor-bone interactions.¹² his system, similar to our previous airway epithelial barrier-on-a-chip work, could bring exposome research into oncology, providing a versatile bridge between cancer biology, toxicology, and regulatory science (Figure 1).¹³ This helps to remove animal testing worldwide and advances precision medicine and cancer prevention.