Towards the development of human immune-system-on-a-chip platforms.

Towards the development of human immune-system-on-a-chip platforms. Drug Discov Today. 2018 Oct 09;: Authors: Polini A, Mercato LLD, Barra A, Zhang YS, Calabi F, Gigli G Abstract Organ-on-a-chip (OoCs) platforms could revolutionize drug discovery and might ultimately become essential tools for precision therapy. Although many single-organ and interconnected systems have been described, the immune system has been comparatively neglected, despite its pervasive role in the body and the trend toward newer therapeutic products (i.e., complex biologics, nanoparticles, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and engineered T cells) that often cause, or are based on, immune reactions. In this review, we recapitulate some distinctive features of the immune system before reviewing microfluidic devices that mimic lymphoid organs or other organs and/or tissues with an integrated immune system component. PMID: 30312743 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Drug Discovery Today - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: research