Recent Developments in Glioblastoma-On-A-Chip for Advanced Drug Screening Applications


Maity S., Bhuyan T., Jewell C., Kawakita S., Sharma S., Nguyen H. T., ...More

Small, vol.21, no.1, 2025 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Review
  • Volume: 21 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1002/smll.202405511
  • Journal Name: Small
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aerospace Database, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, INSPEC, MEDLINE, Metadex, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Keywords: disease modeling, drug screening, GBM, GBM-on-a-chip, tumor microenvironment
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive form of cancer, comprising ≈80% of malignant brain tumors. However, there are no effective treatments for GBM due to its heterogeneity and the presence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which restricts the delivery of therapeutics to the brain. Despite in vitro models contributing to the understanding of GBM, conventional 2D models oversimplify the complex tumor microenvironment. Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) models have emerged as promising platforms that recapitulate human tissue physiology, enabling disease modeling, drug screening, and personalized medicine. There is a sudden increase in GBM-on-a-chip models that can significantly advance the knowledge of GBM etiology and revolutionize drug development by reducing animal testing and enhancing translation to the clinic. In this review, an overview of GBM-on-a-chip models and their applications is reported for drug screening and discussed current challenges and potential future directions for GBM-on-a-chip models.