Organ-on-a-chip (OOAC) is an emerging technology based on microfluid platforms and in vitro cell culture that has a promising future in the healthcare industry. The numerous advantages of OOAC over conventional systems make it highly popular. The chip is an innovative combination of novel technologies, including lab-on-a-chip, microfluidics, biomaterials, and tissue engineering. This paper begins by analyzing the need for the development of OOAC followed by a brief introduction to the technology. Later sections discuss and review the various types of OOACs and the fabrication materials used. The implementation of artificial intelligence in the system makes it more advanced, thereby helping to provide a more accurate diagnosis as well as convenient data management. We introduce selected OOAC projects, including applications to organ/disease modelling, pharmacology, personalized medicine, and dentistry. Finally, we point out certain challenges that need to be surmounted in order to further develop and upgrade the current systems.
24 August 2023 in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms
The impact of pelvic inflammation on prostate cancer (PCa) biology and aggressive phenotype has never been studied. Our study objective was to evaluate the role of pelvic inflammation on PCa aggressiveness and its association with clinical outcomes in patients following radical prostatectomy (RP). This study has been conducted on a retrospective single-institutional consecutive cohort of 2278 patients who underwent robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) between 01/2013 and 10/2019. Data from 2085 patients were analyzed to study the association between pelvic inflammation and adverse pathology (AP), defined as Gleason Grade Group (GGG) > 2 and ≥ pT3 stage, at resection. In a subset of 1997 patients, the association between pelvic inflammation and biochemical recurrence (BCR) was studied. Alteration in tumor transcriptome and inflammatory markers in patients with and without pelvic inflammation were studied using microarray analysis, immunohistochemistry, and culture supernatants derived from inflamed sites used in functional assays. Changes in blood inflammatory markers in the study cohort were analyzed by O-link. In univariate analyses, pelvic inflammation emerged as a significant predictor of AP. Multivariate cox proportional-hazards regression analyses showed that high pelvic inflammation with pT3 stage and positive surgical margins significantly affected the time to BCR (p ≤ 0.05). PCa patients with high inflammation had elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in their tissues and in blood. Genes involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and DNA damage response were upregulated in patients with pelvic inflammation. Attenuation of STAT and IL-6 signaling decreased tumor driving properties of conditioned medium from inflamed sites. Pelvic inflammation exacerbates the progression of prostate cancer and drives an aggressive phenotype.
Glioblastoma is an aggressive central nervous system tumor characterized by diffuse infiltration. Despite substantial advances in oncology, survival outcomes have shown little improvement over the past three decades. Radiotherapy remains a cornerstone of treatment; however, it faces several challenges, including considerable inter-observer variability in clinical target volume delineation, dose constraints associated with adjacent organs at risk, and the persistently poor prognosis of affected patients. Recent advances in artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning, have shown promise in automating radiation therapy mapping to improve consistency, accuracy, and efficiency. This narrative review explores current auto segmentation frameworks, dose mapping, and biologically informed radiotherapy planning guided by multimodal imaging and mathematical modeling. Studies have demonstrated reproducible tumor segmentations with DSCs exceeding 0.90, reduced planning within minutes, and emerging predictive capabilities for treatment response. Radiogenomic integration has enabled imaging-based classification of critical biomarkers with high accuracy, reinforcing the potential of deep learning models in personalized radiotherapy. Despite these innovations, deployment into clinical practice remains limited, primarily due to insufficient external validation and single-institution training datasets. This review emphasizes the importance of large, annotated imaging datasets, multi-institutional collaboration, and biologically explainable modeling to successfully translate deep learning into glioblastoma radiation planning and longitudinal monitoring.
Glioblastoma is an aggressive central nervous system tumor characterized by diffuse infiltration. Despite substantial advances in oncology, survival outcomes have shown little improvement over the past three decades. Radiotherapy remains a cornerstone of treatment; however, it faces several challenges, including considerable inter-observer variability in clinical target volume delineation, dose constraints associated with adjacent organs at risk, and the persistently poor prognosis of affected patients. Recent advances in artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning, have shown promise in automating radiation therapy mapping to improve consistency, accuracy, and efficiency. This narrative review explores current auto segmentation frameworks, dose mapping, and biologically informed radiotherapy planning guided by multimodal imaging and mathematical modeling. Studies have demonstrated reproducible tumor segmentations with DSCs exceeding 0.90, reduced planning within minutes, and emerging predictive capabilities for treatment response. Radiogenomic integration has enabled imaging-based classification of critical biomarkers with high accuracy, reinforcing the potential of deep learning models in personalized radiotherapy. Despite these innovations, deployment into clinical practice remains limited, primarily due to insufficient external validation and single-institution training datasets. This review emphasizes the importance of large, annotated imaging datasets, multi-institutional collaboration, and biologically explainable modeling to successfully translate deep learning into glioblastoma radiation planning and longitudinal monitoring.