Applications of Microfluidic Devices in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer: A Review Study

Abstract

Many cancer-related deaths are reported annually due to a lack of appropriate diagnosis and treatment strategies. Microfluidic technology, as new creativity has a great impact on automation and miniaturization via handling a small volume of materials and samples (in microliter to femtoliter range) to set up the system. Microfluidic devices not only detect various cancer-diagnostic factors from biological fluids but also can produce proper nanoparticles for drug delivery. With the contribution of microfluidics; multiple treatments for cancer such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and gene delivery can be implemented and studied. Hence, Microfluidics can be worth for the cancer field because of its high Throughput, high sensitivity, less material use, and low expense. In this review study, we intend to look at positive microfluidics prospects, features, benefits, and clinical applications.

Keywords:

• Cancer
• diagnosis
• drug delivery
• gene delivery
• microfluidics
• radiotherapy

Abbreviations

PDMS: Polydimethylsiloxane; PMMA: Polymethyl methacrylate; COC: Cyclic olefin copolymer; BMSWHT: Biomedical Microfluidic Systems with High-Throughput; TPE: Thermoset polyester; PC: Polycarbonate; PS: Polystyrene; PFPE: Perfluoropolyether; ECM: Extracellular matrix; TNBC: Triple-negative breast cancer; CTC: Circulating tumor cells; EpCAM: Epithelial cell adhesion molecules; EGFR: Epidermal growth factor receptor; cfDNA: Cell-free DNA; ctDNA: Circulating tumor DNA; PLGA-PEG: Polymeric poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid)-polyethylene glycol; PDI: Polydispersity index; BLChs: Berberine loaded chitosan nanoparticles; HNCC: Human head and neck cancer cells; LDH: Lactate dehydrogenase; AI: Apoptotic index.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, Supervision, writing original draft and funding acquisition: Homayoon Siahmansouri. Writing original draft validation, review, and editing: Negah Mahhengam. Literature searching: Ali fahem ghetran Khazaali, Surendar Aravindhan, Manuscript revision performing, response to reviewers, and final editing: Angelina Olegovna Zekiy and Lyubov Melnikova.

Competing interests

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be considered as a potential conflict of interest.

Compliance with ethical standards

Ethical approval

This article is based on previously conducted studies and does not contain any new studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of this project by Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran (grant No. 85670).