ArticleScience advances2021
Microfluidic tumor-on-a-chip model to evaluate the role of tumor environmental stress on NK cell exhaustion.
Article in Science advances, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 104 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
104 citing papers in PubMed, 153 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tumor-Immune-On-Chip to Evaluate Pathophysiological Feature of T Lymphocytes Expanded from Patient Tumors and Lymph Node Tissues.Cancer medicine · 2026Trial
- A tumor-on-a-chip model reveals and targets reciprocal macrophage-NK cell crosstalk to advance immunotherapy screening.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Three-dimensional spheroid models in breast cancer: tumor microenvironment complexity, cancer stem cell-driven resistance, and translational model integration.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Microfluidic perspectives on chimeric antigen receptor T-cell migration in solid tumours: highlighting physical confinement as a key barrier.Molecular systems design & engineering · 2026Review
- Tumor Microenvironment-on-a-Chip: Construction and Application in Traditional Chinese Medicine Anti-Tumor Therapy.Biosensors · 2026Review
- Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy in Solid Tumors: Microenvironmental Obstacles and Translational 3D Models.Biology · 2026Review
- From single cell analysis to 3D micro physiological systems: microfluidic tools integrating cancer cell targets for delineating natural killer cell biology.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Review
- Gastric Cancer Organoids: Mechanistic Insights, Drug Discovery, and Translational Advances in Precision Medicine.Journal of gastric cancer · 2026Review
- Peripheral nerve sheath tumors-on-a-chip: Next-generation platforms for mechanistic and therapeutic studies.Materials today. Advances · 2026Article
- Multimodal profiling of CAR T cells against glioblastoma using a microengineered 3D tumor-on-a-chip model.Bioactive materials · 2026Article
- Integrative transcriptomic profiling reveals NK cell exhaustion-associated prognostic genes and identifies CSF1 as a key immunoregulatory target in hepatocellular carcinoma.Biology direct · 2026Article
- Autologous tumor-immune effusion cocultures enable ex vivo functional profiling of radiotherapy-immunotherapy combinations.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2026Article
- Quantifying the Dual Effect of Antitumor and Pro-Tumor Human Neutrophils on Natural Killer Cell Behaviors in a Microphysiological System.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2026Article
- Transcriptional networks weaving natural killer anti-tumor immune response.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Microfluidics for cell therapy and manufacturing in oncology and regenerative medicine.Lab on a chip · 2026Review
- Applying microfluidic technology to interpret the tumor immune microenvironment and cancer immunotherapy.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Review
- Recent Advances in Microfluidic Chip Technology for Laboratory Medicine: Innovations and Artificial Intelligence Integration.Biosensors · 2026Review
- Prostate Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts: A Review on CAF Functions, Heterogeneity, Resistance Mechanisms, and Future in a Chip.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Cancer metastasisFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Harnessing Next-Generation 3D Cancer Models to Elucidate Tumor-Microbiome Crosstalk.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Solid tumors generate a suppressive environment that imposes an overwhelming burden on the immune system. Nutrient depletion, waste product accumulation, hypoxia, and pH acidification severely compromise the capacity of effector immune cells such as T and natural killer (NK) cells to destroy cancer cells. However, the specific molecular mechanisms driving immune suppression, as well as the capacity of immune cells to adapt to the suppressive environment, are not completely understood. Thus, here, we used an in vitro microfluidic tumor-on-a-chip platform to evaluate how NK cells respond to the tumor-induced suppressive environment. The results demonstrated that the suppressive environment created by the tumor gradually eroded NK cell cytotoxic capacity, leading to compromised NK cell surveillance and tumor tolerance. Further, NK cell exhaustion persisted for an extended period of time after removing NK cells from the microfluidic platform. Last, the addition of checkpoint inhibitors and immunomodulatory agents alleviated NK cell exhaustion.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.