Abstract
Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths throughout the world. Approximately 80–85 % of all lung cancers are classified as non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), an aggressive tumor type with a 5 year survival rate of 16 % that has improved to some extent over the last 35 years. Even in patients with early stage NSCLC, about half will relapse despite surgery/radiation and adjuvant chemotherapy. Therefore, the search for better therapeutic agents with enhanced activity against lung Carcinoma cancer continues. This study presents an integrated drug screening system based on the lung mimetic tissue pattern for in vitro screening of targeted therapy. The integrated targeted therapy drug screening system constitutes of continuous concentration gradient platform and dielectrophoretic (DEP) cell patterning chambers. DEP forces are based on polarity difference to manipulate and pattern the heterogeneous cells for mimicking the inherent lung morphology and increasing the cell-cell interaction. The multiplexed microchannels, i.e. concentration gradient generator, allow simultaneous administration of multiple drug doses to functional lung cancer cells enabling the in vitro dose-dependent drug responses. The current trend in personalized healthcare shows that medical care is becoming as individualized as possible. The goal is to not only provide customized diagnostic tests but also targeted medicines and dosages more precisely and safely to each patient. The integrated drug screening platform can serve as an effective tool for biomedical applications and diagnostics.