Cancers of the liver have extremely low patient survival rates and result in more than 800,000 deaths annually. Part of the problem is the complex interaction of anti-cancer drugs with the liver’s natural role in drug metabolism and the patient’s immune system. As such, each cancer requires a precisely crafted treatment strategy.
Traditionally, precision medicine has been associated with expensive equipment, highly trained staff, and specialised laboratories. Biopsies from the patient are typically sent to a genomics facility for testing; the results of which can be used to predict which drugs would be most likely to kill the cancerous cells while minimising harm to the healthy ones. However, this strategy has been proven ineffective in most patients, due to the development of drug resistance by tumour cells. As a result, many experts now believe that drug tests directly on the patient’s tissue should be used to complement genomic analysis.
Microfluidics is a technology which allows accurate control of fluid flow on the microlitre scale. This presentation will outline the development of a microfluidic system designed to maintain human liver slices in culture over multiple days. Once fully developed, the so-called ‘liver-on-a-chip' could enable clinicians to perform on-demand drug tests directly on patient samples, allowing them to optimise their treatment plans accordingly. In the future, such platforms could pave the way for a new generation of personalised drug-testing tools, bridging the gap between the hospital and the laboratory.