Lymphoma chip for personalised immunotherapies

Patricia Perez-Galán

Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Spain

Personalised medicine is essential to treat some cancers due to their enormous genetic heterogeneity. This is the case, for instance, of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the most common haematological tumour. So far, samples taken from the patient's lesion and cultured in the laboratory have been used to try to predict the response to certain drugs. However, these in vitro models do not reproduce the tumour microenvironment (cellular, vascular and physical support), which is particularly important in the case of lymphomas due to the crucial role it plays in tumour survival and response to treatment.

In this project, the researchers aim to develop an organoid from the patient's tumour sample that recreates the immune microenvironment of the lymphoma, as well as its physical support, and to integrate it into a chip using state-of-the-art vascular models. This innovative lymphoma chip will make it possible to analyse the access of therapies to the tumour and to evaluate the response of lymphomas to different immunotherapies in a personalised way. This approach will also contribute to reducing the use of animals in biomedicine.

Kristina Haase, EMBL Barcelona, Spain

Vascularized lymphoma on-chip: a multifaceted tool for translational research

€499,871.26