SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jan. 27, 2026 — Cancer research laboratory tests can now be done using micro-physiological systems mimicking the human physiology, allowing greater predictive accuracy for human patientresponses, thanks to an international scientific team led by HonorHealth Research Institute and the University of Arizona.
Their findings from a simulated radiation treatment for lung cancer are summarized in a paper published in the scientific journal iScience entitled: A human 3D culture-organ-on-chip platform for investigating the tumor microenvironment response to ionizing radiation ( 10.1016/j.isci.2025.114236 ).
"We can be more precise and accurate than we've been. And eventually, better understand some of the mechanisms that drive the complex human tumor microenvironment (TME) interactions and how to guide treatment," said Frederic Zenhausern, Ph.D., MBA, senior author of the paper, a senior scientist at HonorHealth Research Institute, and professor and director of the Center for Applied NanoBioscience and Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.
"Studying complex human responses … requires advanced in vitro (laboratory) systems," according to the paper. "Here, we present the Apparatus to Simulate Tumor Environment
and Reproduce Organs in an Interactive and Dynamic System (ASTEROIDS), which integrates three-dimensional cell culture with organ-on-chip technology. These results demonstrate that ASTEROIDS faithfully reproduces TME-level organization and responses, establishing its feasibility as a pre-clinical human model."
While the simulation described in the paper focused on lung cancer, the technology can be applied to any solid tumor, Dr. Zenhausern said: "This platform will play a significant role moving forward."
This technology aligns with new FDA policies, under the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, to reduce animal testing in the development of advanced molecular therapies and other drugs with more human-relevant methods using multiple approaches, including AI-based computational models, organ-on-chip, and organoid testing in laboratory settings (so-called New Approach Methodologies or NAMs).
ASTEROIDS technology is also under joint product development with Japan's Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc. for future commercialization to improve the efficacy of translating the results of pre-clinical models to human clinical outcomes.
Characterization of ASTEROIDS
The 3D nature of ASTEROIDS combines cell culture and organ-on-chip technology, supports long-term cell viability and tissue barrier integrity, enables cell-to-cell communication and tumor-immune crosstalk, and provides a human-relevant platform for therapy testing.
"This TME provides a unique biological landscape, including multiple properties through its three-dimensional cellular morphology, the biochemical signaling governing the interaction of its multi-cellular components, and the mechanical forces occurring during tumor initiation, progression, invasion, and dissemination," the paper said.
The three-dimensional design enables the ASTEROIDS platform to act in a spatial organization that closely mimics the actions and reactions of a living organism, according to the paper: "We showed that the ASTEROIDS allowed the mechanical and biochemical interactions between the different cells, thus recapitulating key tissue hallmarks commonlydescribed with in vivo (living cell) observations."
National and international contributors
Led by Dr. Zenhausern and U of A Assistant Professor Dr. Jerome Lacombe, this multi-institutional collaboration integrates expertise from radiobiologists, oncologists and engineers to deliver an interdisciplinary advance in medicine.
Support for this study came from: National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), St. Joseph's Foundation, Helios Education Foundation, Valley Research Partnership Program, and the HonorHealth Research Institute Rare Cancer Initiative supported by Desert Mountain CARE.
Additional support was provided by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company.
Also contributing to this study's research were researchers at University of Geneva, Georgetown University, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company.
