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Biomicrofluidics / Volume 5 / Issue 1 / SPECIAL TOPIC: BIOLOGICAL MICROFLUIDICS IN TISSUE ENGINEERING AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE (GUEST EDITOR: SUWAN JAYASINGHE)

Biomicrofluidics 5, 013412 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3555195 (17 pages)

Microfluidics-based devices: New tools for studying cancer and cancer stem cell migration

Yu Huang1,2, Basheal Agrawal3, Dandan Sun3,4, John S. Kuo3,5, and Justin C. Williams1,2,3

1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
2Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
3Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
4Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
5Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA

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(Received 20 December 2010; accepted 26 January 2011; published online 30 March 2011)

Cell movement is highly sensitive to stimuli from the extracellular matrix and media. Receptors on the plasma membrane in cells can activate signal transduction pathways that change the mechanical behavior of a cell by reorganizing motion-related organelles. Cancer cells change their migration mechanisms in response to different environments more robustly than noncancer cells. Therefore, therapeutic approaches to immobilize cancer cells via inhibition of the related signal transduction pathways rely on a better understanding of cell migration mechanisms. In recent years, engineers have been working with biologists to apply microfluidics technology to study cell migration. As opposed to conventional cultures on dishes, microfluidics deals with the manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a submillimeter scale. Such small scales offer a number of advantages including cost effectiveness, low consumption of reagents, high sensitivity, high spatiotemporal resolution, and laminar flow. Therefore, microfluidics has a potential as a new platform to study cell migration. In this review, we summarized recent progress on the application of microfluidics in cancer and other cell migration researches. These studies have enhanced our understanding of cell migration and cancer invasion as well as their responses to subtle variations in their microenvironment. We hope that this review will serve as an interdisciplinary guidance for both biologists and engineers as they further develop the microfluidic toolbox toward applications in cancer research.

© 2011 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. CANCER CELL MIGRATION
    1. Mesenchymal single cell migration
    2. Amoeboid single cell migration
    3. Collective cell movement and transition between migration modes
  3. MICROFLUIDIC APPLICATION FOR MIGRATION STUDIES
    1. Interaction with mechanical and 3D environment
    2. Gradient generator
      1. Flow-based
      2. Diffusion-based
      3. Micropatterning
  4. NEW FRONTIER-MIGRATION OF BRAIN TUMOR CELLS
    1. GBM tumor and tumor stem cells
    2. Migratory signature in microfluidic approach
  5. SUMMARY

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

biochemistry, bioMEMS, cancer, cell motility, microfluidics

PACS

  • 87.80.Ek

    Mechanical and micromechanical techniques

  • 87.19.xj

    Cancer

  • 87.17.Jj

    Cell locomotion, chemotaxis

  • 87.18.Gh

    Cell-cell communication; collective behavior of motile cells

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3555195

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1932-1058 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.
    R. J. Hawkins, M. Piel, G. Faure-Andre, A. M. Lennon-Dumenil, J. F. Joanny, J. Prost, and R. Voituriez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 058103 (2009).


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