肿瘤-免疫-芯片用于评估从患者肿瘤和淋巴结组织中扩增的 T 淋巴细胞的病理生理特征

The infiltration and cytotoxicity of T lymphocytes are critical for cancer immunotherapy efficacy; however, the behavior of these immune cells has not been thoroughly investigated.

Herein, a Tumor-Immune-On-Chip is established using cells acquired from the tissues of a patient with colorectal cancer to monitor T lymphocytes. Through the Tumor-Immune-On-Chip, the interaction between tumor spheroid and either T lymphocytes expanded from tumors (tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes; TILs) or lymph nodes (lymph node-derived lymphocytes; LN T cells) are investigated.

Although initial 24-h analysis showed no statistical differences, extended 48-h observation revealed a significant deviation in T cell-mediated cell death signals between TILs and LN T cells. TILs demonstrated more potent cytotoxic effects than LN T cells after 48 h. The number of tumor-infiltrating CD3 + cells and cleaved caspase-3 expression levels were 4- and 2. 1-fold higher, respectively, in TIL co-cultures compared to LN T cell co-cultures.

Therefore, this proof-of-concept platform allows us to explore the patient-specific tumor-immune microenvironment, focusing on different types of T lymphocytes and establishing methodology for future clinical applications. ClinicalTrial. gov identifier: NCT02589496.