Accurately modeling tumor biology and testing novel therapies on patient-derived cells is critically important to developing therapeutic regimens personalized to a patient's specific disease. The vascularized micro-tumor (VMT), or "tumor-on-a-chip", is a physiologic preclinical cancer model that incorporates key features of the native human tumor microenvironment within a transparent microfluidic platform, allowing rapid drug screening in vitro. Herein we optimize methods for generating patient-derived VMT (pVMT) using fresh colorectal cancer (CRC) biopsies and surgical resections to test drug sensitivities at the individual patient level. In response to standard chemotherapy and TGF-βR1 inhibition, we observe heterogeneous responses between pVMT derived from 6 patient biopsies, with the pVMT recapitulating tumor growth, histological features, metabolic heterogeneity and drug responses of actual CRC tumors. Our results suggest that a translational infrastructure providing rapid information from patient-derived tumor cells in the pVMT, as established in this study, will support efforts to improve patient outcomes.
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