Consultant picture of MIRO co-culture on day 10. Stitched confocal pictures exhibiting the group of CAFs (inexperienced), tumor spheroid (visualized with DAPI, pink) and immune cells (cyan). Scale bar: 2 mm. Credit score: Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC)
A group led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and the Hospital del Mar Analysis Institute has developed the MIRO (Micro Immune Response On chip), a tool that permits researchers to duplicate the traits of tumors and their surroundings utilizing affected person cells. It’s a instrument that may assist pace up the event of recent most cancers remedy therapies in addition to choose probably the most appropriate ones for every individual. The work has been revealed within the journal Nature Communications.
The MIRO machine makes it doable to fill a spot within the creation of therapies in opposition to most cancers cells. Many developments provide promising leads to the laboratory, in vitro and in mouse fashions, however they don’t work as nicely when transferred to people.
“MIRO enables us to recreate not only the tumors, but their environment and the interactions they have with the cells of the immune system. This relationship is vital for the success of immunotherapy-based treatments which, despite their curative potential, currently only work in between 20 and 40% of patients,” explains Dr. Anna Labernadie, who designed the microfluidic system throughout her postdoctoral analysis at IBEC and now leads the Cell Habits and Tissue Bioengineering laboratory on the Príncipe Felipe Analysis Middle (CIPF) in Valencia.
The researchers who’ve developed this expertise have already examined it with breast most cancers samples often known as HER2-positive. This sort of most cancers cell has very excessive ranges of the HER2 protein, which promotes fast tumor progress, however on the identical time, could be handled with therapies that particularly goal this protein.
Video exhibiting the group of fibroblasts (inexperienced), tumor spheroids (pink) and immune cells (cyan). Comparability of a management situation (left) with therapy situation (proper). In therapy circumstances, Immune cells (cyan) are capable of go by the fibroblasts (inexperienced) and attain the tumor (pink). Credit score: Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia
The assessments carried out have made it doable to confirm the significance of the surroundings surrounding breast tumors in defending them from the commonest therapy in one of these most cancers, the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab.
“Thanks to MIRO, we have been able to track the immune cells, see how they lose speed, movement, as they approach the tumor, which makes the treatment not work. They encounter a barrier formed by the tumor environment and become blocked,” explains Dr. Alexandre Calon, head of the Translational Analysis Laboratory in Tumor Microenvironment on the Hospital del Mar Analysis Institute.
Transferring in the direction of personalised therapy
The MIRO machine, which has already been examined with different sorts of stable tumors, similar to lung or colon tumors, is manufactured utilizing microfluidic methods. These methods enable fluids and cells to be manipulated on a really small scale.
Tradition plate, every nicely accommodates a MIRO machine. Credit score: Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia
MIRO consists of cell cultures of various varieties, separated into compartments with a purpose to direct and observe their evolution. This mannequin, the primary of its variety created with these methods, makes it doable to recreate and examine intimately the interplay between most cancers cells, their connective tissue and immune responses.
“This model allows us to directly test the treatments that would be used with patients,” explains Dr. Xavier Trepat, ICREA analysis professor at IBEC, the place he leads the Integrative Cell and Tissue Dynamics group, and member of the College of Barcelona (UB).
The machine’s capability to investigate the functioning of various therapies, the emergence of doable resistance and even determine new biomarkers individually for every affected person, represents a fantastic advance within the design and personalization of immunotherapy therapies in oncology.
On this sense, Dr. Joan Albanell, head of the Medical Oncology Service at Hospital del Mar and director of the Most cancers Analysis Program at his analysis institute, identified that “MIRO is an innovative preclinical model that can help improve the success rate and efficacy of new strategies with immunotherapy once we transfer them to clinical trials.”
Time‐lapse imaging of labelled immune cells (left: cyan, proper: gray)
migrating in a MIRO channel colonised by CAF#1‐GFP (inexperienced) over 190 minutes. Scale bar:
100 μm. Credit score: Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56275-1
As for future work, IBEC, ICREA and Hospital del Mar Analysis Institute have already filed a joint patent software for MIRO’s expertise. “Our goal is to transfer this technology to the pharmaceutical industry and hospitals to be able to apply it to patients,” explains Dr. Anna Labernadie.
The examine described is a part of Alice Preucca’s Ph.D. thesis at IBEC. Her work focuses on investigating the position of the immunocompetent ecosystem in most cancers development.
The work additionally included the collaboration of the Institute for Analysis in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), the College of Barcelona (UB), the Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine Networking Biomedical Analysis Centre (CIBER-BBN), Pompeu Fabra College and the Oncology Networking Biomedical Analysis Centre (CIBERONC-ISCIII).
Extra data:
Alice Perucca et al, Micro Immune Response On-chip (MIRO) fashions the tumour-stroma interface for immunotherapy testing, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56275-1
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Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC)
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A step in the direction of personalised immunotherapy: MIRO machine replicates tumors, environments and interactions (2025, February 6)
retrieved 6 February 2025
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