Microfluidic Co-Culture Models for Dissecting the Immune Response in in vitro Tumor MicroenvironmentsAdele De Ninno 1, Francesca Romana Bertani 1, Annamaria Gerardino 1, Giovanna Schiavoni 2, Martina Musella 3, Claudia Galassi 3, Fabrizio Mattei 2, Antonella Sistigu 3,4, Luca Businaro 1
1CNR Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnology, 2Dept. of Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 3Istituto di Patologia Generale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 4Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Unit, IRCCS Regina Elena National Cancer Institute
In the age of immunotherapy and single-cell genomic profiling, cancer biology requires novel in vitro and computational tools for investigating the tumor-immune interface in a proper spatiotemporal context. We describe protocols to exploit tumor-immune microfluidic co-cultures in 2D and 3D settings, compatible with dynamic, multiparametric monitoring of cellular functions.