Table 1.

An overview of microfluidic tools used in cancer research.

Application of Microfluidic Technology in Oncology	Description	References
Isolation of CTCs	Performing label free and label-based methods for separation of cancer cells from background blood cells	[32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40]
Studying cancer cell phenotype	For studying the mechanical qualities that influence the migration of cancer cells and metastatic pattern	[41,42,43,44,45]
Studying shear stress	For characterizing the biophysical response of tumor cells due to shear stress in circulation	[46,47,48,49,50]
Studying metastasis	For studying the metastatic cascade by developing microfluidic tools able to reproduce biophysical, biomechanical and biochemical environment	[51,52,53,54,55,56]
Anti-cancer drug screening using droplet microfluidics	For allowing programmable drug absorption, confinement and controlled release	[57,58,59,60]
Replication of tumor microenvironment (TME) on chip	For recapitulating the key features of tumor microenvironment including tumor-stromal interaction, extracellular matrix (ECM) components, biophysical and metabolic factors	[61,62,63]
Studying angiogenesis and developing vascularized tumor on chip	For recreating prominent features of TME for oxygen and nutrient delivery to tumor cells	[64,65,66]
Organ-on-a-chip	For replicating the physiological aspects of an organ for replicating the structural, mechanical and biological factors for understanding cancer biology and advancing drug development process	[67,68,69,70]