Source: U of T Engineering News, written by Samantha Younan; research by Amid Shakeri, Milica Radisic (University of Toronto) (November 9, 2026). AI-generated summary by biochip.com, published . Not independently reviewed.
Key takeaways
- University of Toronto researchers built MInD, a multi-organ-on-a-chip device that links engineered tissues under fluid flow.
- Breast cancer cells invaded engineered liver tissue more readily than cardiac tissue, and cardiac tissue reduced overall invasion.
- The study does not establish whether the model predicts cancer spread in patients or can prevent metastasis.
University of Toronto researchers built a multi-organ-on-a-chip device to study why cancer rarely spreads to the heart. In experiments with engineered tissues, aggressive breast cancer cells invaded liver tissue more readily than cardiac tissue, and the presence of cardiac tissue reduced overall invasion. The platform connects several tissue compartments under flowing fluid, giving researchers a way to watch how organ environments affect cancer cell movement. The findings could help scientists investigate what makes some tissues less welcoming to metastasis.
A connected model of multiple organs
The device, called the Multi-organ Invasion Device (MInD), grows different engineered tissues in one open-well system. Its compartments are linked by fluid flow, allowing cancer cells and signals from one tissue environment to interact with another.
The team also developed a way to make PermeoTubes, biodegradable elastic tubes with interconnected pores. The tubes support cancer cell movement and biochemical communication between tissues while retaining mechanical properties similar to those of biological structures.
“The goal was to create a platform that captures key steps of the metastatic process while allowing us to observe interactions between different tissues under controlled conditions,” says senior study author Professor Milica Radisic. She says existing models can struggle to reproduce human tissue complexity or connect organ compartments through a shared circulation.
Heart and liver tissues had different effects
The researchers compared engineered cardiac tissue with liver tissue, a common site of breast cancer metastasis. Cancer cells migrated readily toward the liver compartment but showed significantly less invasion into cardiac tissue.
The contrast was more pronounced when the device contained cardiac tissue, liver tissue and cancer cells together. The cancer cells preferentially moved toward the liver, while cardiac tissue reduced overall invasion.
The team also analyzed proteins and gene expression, finding changes in pathways linked to metastasis, immune responses and cell migration. First author Amid Shakeri says the device let the researchers monitor cancer cell movement in real time and examine how tissue environments influenced cell behavior at the molecular level.
Why This Matters
Metastasis causes more than 90% of cancer-related deaths, but scientists still have difficulty studying why cancer cells spread to some organs and not others. Cell cultures often lack the complexity of living tissues, while animal models can make it hard to separate the effects of individual organs and their local environments.
MInD offers a controlled way to compare those environments in a connected system. The study shows that engineered cardiac and liver tissues can have different effects on breast cancer cell invasion, and that signals from cardiac tissue can influence that behavior.
The results do not establish whether the model predicts cancer spread in patients or whether its findings can be used to prevent metastasis. The team says the manufacturing approach may also support other organ-on-a-chip research, including drug testing and disease modeling.
Topics: Organ-on-a-chip · Cancer · Heart & vascular health
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