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The future of microfluidics in immune checkpoint blockade

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 28, pages 895–910 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recent advances in microfluidic techniques have enabled researchers to study sensitivities to immune checkpoint therapy, to determine patients’ response to particular antibody treatment. Utilization of this technology is helpful in antibody discovery and in the design of personalized medicine. A variety of microfluidic approaches can provide several functions in processes such as immunologic, genomic, and/or transcriptomic analysis with the aim of improving the efficacy and coverage of immunotherapy, particularly immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). To achieve this requires researchers to overcome the challenges in the current state of the technology. This review looks into the advancements in microfluidic technologies applied to researches on immune checkpoint blockade treatment and its potential shift from proof-of-principle stage to clinical application.

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Fig. 1: Microfluidic devices developed for therapy assessment and disease monitoring.
Fig. 2: Microfluidic tools with integration of single-cell RNA sequencings and analysis.
Fig. 3: Microfluidic tools for the evaluation of the efficacy and sensitivity of immunotherapies.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support provided by the Core Research for Evolutionary Science and Technology (CREST) Program with JST CREST Grant Number JPMJCR16G2, Japan.

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  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Jonathan Briones, Wilfred Espulgar & Masato Saito

  2. Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Shohei Koyama & Hyota Takamatsu

  3. AIST PhotoBIO-OIL, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Eiichi Tamiya & Masato Saito

  4. The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Eiichi Tamiya

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Briones, J., Espulgar, W., Koyama, S. et al. The future of microfluidics in immune checkpoint blockade. Cancer Gene Ther 28, 895–910 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-020-00248-7

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