{"title":"Microfluidic device for high-throughput cancer drug screenings","authors":"Po-Hsun Chen, Lin-Yu Wang, Chia-Yuan Chang, Yuh-Shiuan Chien, Yu-Chia Su, Chi-Kuang Wang, Kuang-Chong Wu, Hsian-Jean Chin, Chien-Fu Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.cej.2025.169510","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"High-throughput drug screening is critical in discovering therapeutic compounds, but traditional manual dilution methods are laborious, error-prone, and inefficient. Here, we report on the development of a microfluidic device designed to generate drug concentration gradients accurately and rapidly. This device utilizes laminar flow at low Reynolds numbers to precisely control the volume ratio of the two mixed fluids by adjusting channel length, helping to create precise dilution ratios from 1/3× to 1/300×. We demonstrated that the resulting concentration gradient deviated less than 6 % from the target value, significantly better than manual dilution methods, using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a sample to simulate actual drug dilution. Furthermore, the device was validated through cytotoxicity tests of the dilution of chemotherapy drug (oxaliplatin) on colorectal cancer cells (HCT-116). The IC<sub>50</sub> deviation obtained from the microfluidic device was within 2.45 % of those obtained by manual dilution, showcasing its reliability and accuracy. Multi-drug screening involving 5-FU, oxaliplatin and SN-38 on HCT-116 cells was also conducted to demonstrate the device's applicability in complex screening. Notably, the device achieves steady-state within 30 s at high flow rates, demonstrating scalability and potential for integration into high-throughput screening platforms. This technology reduces the time and labor required for drug screening and improves dilution accuracy, providing a promising avenue for personalized and precision medicine.","PeriodicalId":270,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Engineering Journal","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Chemical Engineering Journal","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.169510","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
High-throughput drug screening is critical in discovering therapeutic compounds, but traditional manual dilution methods are laborious, error-prone, and inefficient. Here, we report on the development of a microfluidic device designed to generate drug concentration gradients accurately and rapidly. This device utilizes laminar flow at low Reynolds numbers to precisely control the volume ratio of the two mixed fluids by adjusting channel length, helping to create precise dilution ratios from 1/3× to 1/300×. We demonstrated that the resulting concentration gradient deviated less than 6 % from the target value, significantly better than manual dilution methods, using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a sample to simulate actual drug dilution. Furthermore, the device was validated through cytotoxicity tests of the dilution of chemotherapy drug (oxaliplatin) on colorectal cancer cells (HCT-116). The IC50 deviation obtained from the microfluidic device was within 2.45 % of those obtained by manual dilution, showcasing its reliability and accuracy. Multi-drug screening involving 5-FU, oxaliplatin and SN-38 on HCT-116 cells was also conducted to demonstrate the device's applicability in complex screening. Notably, the device achieves steady-state within 30 s at high flow rates, demonstrating scalability and potential for integration into high-throughput screening platforms. This technology reduces the time and labor required for drug screening and improves dilution accuracy, providing a promising avenue for personalized and precision medicine.
期刊介绍:
The Chemical Engineering Journal is an international research journal that invites contributions of original and novel fundamental research. It aims to provide an international platform for presenting original fundamental research, interpretative reviews, and discussions on new developments in chemical engineering. The journal welcomes papers that describe novel theory and its practical application, as well as those that demonstrate the transfer of techniques from other disciplines. It also welcomes reports on carefully conducted experimental work that is soundly interpreted. The main focus of the journal is on original and rigorous research results that have broad significance. The Catalysis section within the Chemical Engineering Journal focuses specifically on Experimental and Theoretical studies in the fields of heterogeneous catalysis, molecular catalysis, and biocatalysis. These studies have industrial impact on various sectors such as chemicals, energy, materials, foods, healthcare, and environmental protection.