Innovative Embolization-on-a-Chip Model Enhances Liver Cancer Treatment Testing

Researchers at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation have developed a groundbreaking liver tumor-on-a-chip platform designed to evaluate the effectiveness of various embolic agents used in treating liver cancer. This novel microfluidic model accurately replicates the tumor’s microenvironment, including a vascularized, perfusable microvasculature that can be embolized with different agents, providing a highly human-relevant alternative to animal testing. Dr. Vadim Jucaud's team crafted a system where tumor spheroids are surrounded by dynamic blood vessel networks, allowing precise simulation of embolization procedures. The platform enables assessment of treatment outcomes through measurements such as tumor cell death, vessel regression, cytokine profiles, and marker expression.

This innovative approach offers significant advantages by mimicking the complex vascular responses seen in human liver cancers, which are often missed in traditional models. It allows researchers to directly deliver embolic agents into tumor-associated vessels, closely replicating clinical procedures, and gaining insights into tumor hypoxia, immune interaction, and angiogenic signaling.

The platform’s capability to evaluate multiple embolic agents efficiently accelerates the development of next-generation therapies. As Dr. Huu Tuan Nguyen highlights, integrating functional blood vessels into the model captures the key vascular dynamics influencing liver cancer growth and response to treatment—an aspect not achievable with conventional cell cultures or animal models. This advancement aligns with the broader push for ethical, human-centered research methods and holds promise for improving personalized treatment strategies for liver cancer.

The study detailing this development was published in the journal Biofabrication (2025). For more information, visit the original publication here. This innovative platform marks a significant step forward in preclinical testing, providing a powerful tool to better understand embolization therapies and facilitate the translation of new treatments into clinical practice.