title: Well plate-based perfusion culture device for tissue and tumor microenvironment replication.
abstract: There are significant challenges in developing in vitro human tissue and tumor models that can be used to support new drug development and evaluate personalized therapeutics. The challenges include: (1) working with primary cells which are often difficult to maintain ex vivo, (2) mimicking native microenvironments from which primary cells are harvested, and (3) the lack of culture devices that can support these microenvironments to evaluate drug responses in a high-throughput manner. Here we report a versatile well plate-based perfusion culture device that was designed, fabricated and used to: (1) ascertain the role of perfusion in facilitating the expansion of human multiple myeloma cells and evaluate drug response of the cells, (2) preserve the physiological phenotype of primary murine osteocytes by reconstructing the 3D cellular network of osteocytes, and (3) circulate primary murine T cells through a layer of primary murine intestine epithelial cells to recapitulate the interaction of the immune cells with the epithelial cells. Through these diverse case studies, we demonstrate the device's design features to support: (1) the convenient and spatiotemporal placement of cells and biomaterials into the culture wells of the device; (2) the replication of tissues and tumor microenvironments using perfusion, stromal cells, and/or biomaterials; (3) the circulation of non-adherent cells through the culture chambers; and (4) conventional tissue and cell characterization by plate reading, histology, and flow cytometry. Future challenges are identified and discussed from the perspective of manufacturing the device and making its operation for routine and wide use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konior
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Biomedical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Department, Hackensack University Medical Center, 40 Prospect Ave, Hackensack, NJ, 07601, USA.|John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zilberberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA.
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002460:Cell Line; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000633:toxicity; D010011:Osteocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D009842:Oligopeptides; C524865:carfilzomib