Studying Nanoparticle Penetration in 3D Multicellular Tumour Models On-Chip

Here, we report a breast tumour-on-a-chip platform to evaluate the penetration of nanomedicines in 3D tumour spheroids, as a function of the tumour spheroid cellular composition. Mouse multicellular tumour mono-culture spheroids and cancer cell-fibroblast co-culture spheroids were exposed to silica nanoparticles (NPs) (30 or 100nm) or liposomes (100nm) at various flowrates, mimicking the shear stress levels found in vivo. Results revealed that the NP penetration was influenced by the shear stress, and that the presence of fibroblasts in the tumour spheroids greatly reduced the penetration depth of the nanoparticles.