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Breakthrough IISc Research Sheds New Light On How Ageing And Diabetes Worsen Cancer
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed an innovative device that mimics how cancer interacts with blood vessels in the human body. This breakthrough came from combining expertise in cancer biology and microfluidics – the science of controlling tiny amounts of fluids. Their device, called a dual organ-on-chip, creates a miniature model of a tumor next to a blood vessel that can be studied under a microscope.
Using this chip, the researchers discovered that methylglyoxal (MG), a compound associated with diabetes and aging, makes it easier for cancer cells to enter blood vessels. This finding is particularly significant because people with diabetes or older adults often have worse outcomes when they develop cancer. The project, which began in 2020 and took five years to complete, was inspired by similar “lung-on-chip” models developed in Western countries to study smoking’s effects on lungs.
The device represents a major advance in personalized medicine, as it allows scientists to study individual patients’ cells and understand why diseases affect people differently. For example, researchers can compare how cancer spreads in diabetic versus non-diabetic conditions, or in older versus younger tissue environments. According to researcher Nilesh Kumar, this technology also provides an ethical alternative to animal testing by accurately recreating human biological conditions using microfluidics and human cells. The platform’s ability to parallel tissue architecture enables real-time simulations of body processes, offering more accurate results than traditional research methods.
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