How organ-on-a-chip is advancing cancer research and oncology - a cancer hallmarks’ perspective

Despite significant improvements in methodologies behind the development of new anticancer therapies, the path from early-stage drug development through preclinical and clinical development pipeline is still arduous. Further refinement of the current preclinical models and the development of complementing alternative techniques that enable more reliable studies are paramount. The emerging organ-on-a-chip (OoC) technologies are physiological-like organ biomimetic systems built on a microfluidic chip, capable of enabling precise control over various physicochemical and biomechanical parameters and helping recreate the natural physiology and mechanical forces that cells experience in the human body. In oncology research, especially, since cancer has been understood to be a dynamic disease featured by complex interactions between cancer cells and their environment, this technology offers added advantage as it is able to provide a dynamic platform to simulate cancer-on-a-chip emulating the biological context of tumor microenvironment (TME); demonstrating progression to metastases to multiorgans; and helping to unravel complex information that other current in vitro methods are otherwise not able to provide. In this contribution, we provide a biological perspective on the recent advances in the field of OoC models in cancer biology studies from a cancer hallmark perspective. We also discuss current prospects and funding opportunities in this space, as well as a possible future outlook from a biology perspective, including major challenges and new opportunities as a way forward to OoC technologies.