Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Multimodal profiling of CAR T cells against glioblastoma using a microengineered 3D tumor-on-a-chip model

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.01.003

Figure Lengend Snippet: Generation of CAR T cell workflow, assessment of CAR transduction, and quantification of on-target antigens on U87. A) Pictographic representation of timeline for CAR T cell culturing and functional assessment. B) Flow cytometric gating strategy of representative donor to quantify CAR transduction applicable to both IL-13 and TV-13 CAR transduced cells. C) Comparative CAR expression distinguished between CD4 and CD8 from a representative donor of Control T Cells (UTD), TV-13, and IL-13 CARs. D) Flow cytometric verification of IL13Rα1 and IL13Rα2 expression on U87 cells.

Article Snippet: U87 Culture : The Uppsala 87 (U87) Malignant Glioma cell line (HTB-14, ATCC) performed as the target tumor for this study was cultured in complete media composed of Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) with L-Glutamine, and supplemented with 10 % FBS, 1 % HEPES, and 1 % penicillin-streptomycin.

Techniques: Transduction, Cell Culture, Functional Assay, Expressing, Control

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Multimodal profiling of CAR T cells against glioblastoma using a microengineered 3D tumor-on-a-chip model

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.01.003

Figure Lengend Snippet: 2D in vitro cytotoxic assessment of CARs polyfunctionality. A) Workflow for intracellular cytokine assay. Created with BioRender.com . B) Flow cytometric gating strategy of the representative donor to identify CAR + T cells from viable singlets. C) Comparative release of IL-2 and TNF-α by CAR + T cells from the representative donor between UTD, TV-13, and IL-13 CAR transduced cells. D ) Comparative release of IFN-γ from the representative between UTD, TV-13, and IL-13 CAR T cells. E ) Graphical display of perforin and granzyme B release ( n = 3 ). ∗ p < 0.05. F) Quantification of the amount of INF-γ released into bulk media across UTD, TV-13, and IL-13 ( n = 3 ). One-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis. G) Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) based quantification rate of tumor lysis across different T cell treatment conditions ( n = 3 ). One-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis. H) Simplified Presentation of Incredibly Complex Evaluations (SPICE) analysis showing the number of intracellular cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-2) produced per T cell by TV-13 and IL-13 CAR T cells, in response to U87 target stimulation indicating their polyfunctionality. The purple quadrant denotes the percentage of T cells producing all three cytokines, green represents cells producing two cytokines, blue denotes cells producing one, and grey represents cells producing none. Comparable levels of polyfunctionality were observed between the TV-13 and IL-13 groups. Data collected from three biological replicates ( n = 3 ).

Article Snippet: U87 Culture : The Uppsala 87 (U87) Malignant Glioma cell line (HTB-14, ATCC) performed as the target tumor for this study was cultured in complete media composed of Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) with L-Glutamine, and supplemented with 10 % FBS, 1 % HEPES, and 1 % penicillin-streptomycin.

Techniques: In Vitro, Cytokine Assay, Lysis, Produced

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Multimodal profiling of CAR T cells against glioblastoma using a microengineered 3D tumor-on-a-chip model

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.01.003

Figure Lengend Snippet: Formation of 3D self-assembled microvascular network (μVN) and its influence on U87 cells. A) Establishment of the μVN. (i) Schematic representation detailing the formation of the self-assembled μVN, and (ii) Representative phase contrast tile image of the device showing the progression of μVN formation on day 0 (left) and day 7 (right). B) Characterization of the μVN. (i) 10X tile image of vascular region stained for endothelial marker CD31 (green), junctional protein CD144 (red), and counterstained for nuclei with DAPI (blue) (scale bar: 200 μm), (ii) Phase contrast region of interest (ROI) image highlighting the vascular bundle formed within the vascular region (left), alongside 20X immunofluorescent image showing the expression of CD31(middle), and wrapping of pericytes (α-SMA) around the vascular bundle (right). Scale bars: 100 μm. C) orthogonal sectioning of established μVN confirming the open lumen formation (white arrowhead indicates the open lumen in the orthogonal view). Scale bar: 50 μm. D) Representative immunofluorescent and phase contrast overlap image after injection of 70 kDa fluorescent dextran dye captured at 30s, 1,2, and 4min. Scale bars: 100 μm. E) Line graph image of co-localization of pericytes with endothelial cells based on the scan line (white line) from figure Bii (right). F) Representative immunofluorescent image captured after perfusion of 2 μm fluorescent bead (red) through the CD31 (green) stained vascular bundle. Scale bar: 100 μm. G) Characterization of the μVN in the presence of tumor cells. (i) 10X tile image showing the intact μVN in the vascular (V) region and the migration of the tumor cells (U87-green) from the tumor (T) to the stroma (S) region. Yellow dashed trapezoids and hexagons mark the microposts of the 3D GOC. Scale bar: 200 μm, and (ii) Orthogonal sectioning of the vascular region confirming the maintenance of lumens post U87 injection (white arrowhead indicates the open lumen with white dashed box showing a zoomed-in lumen). Scale bar: 50 μm. Actin acquired with Alexa 647 and CD31 stained with Alexa 555 were pseudo colored in gray and magenta, respectively, for visualization. T, S, V represent the tumor, stroma, and vascular regions of the GOC system.

Article Snippet: U87 Culture : The Uppsala 87 (U87) Malignant Glioma cell line (HTB-14, ATCC) performed as the target tumor for this study was cultured in complete media composed of Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) with L-Glutamine, and supplemented with 10 % FBS, 1 % HEPES, and 1 % penicillin-streptomycin.

Techniques: Staining, Marker, Expressing, Injection, Migration

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Multimodal profiling of CAR T cells against glioblastoma using a microengineered 3D tumor-on-a-chip model

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.01.003

Figure Lengend Snippet: Evaluation of cytotoxic abilities of T cells against GBM cells within the GOC model. A) Microfluidic 3D invasion assay. (i) Schematic representation depicting the culture of tumor cells with T cells on day 0 (top) and day 3 (bottom), (ii) Representative phase contrast tile image overlapped with GFP (tumor cells) channel captured on day 0 to show the distribution of tumor and T cells across the experimental conditions (Scale bars: 200 μm), and (iii) Representative phase contrast tile image overlapped with GFP channel showing the migration of the U87 cells (green) from the tumor region to the stroma region across three different T cell populations. The densities of U87 are kept consistent across all conditions, and the density of T cells varies from 4 × 10 6 to 15 × 10 6 cells/mL. Images were captured 72 h after the interaction of cells within the GOC model (Scale bars: 200 μm). T-tumor, S-stroma, and V-vascular regions of GOC. B) Assessment of tumor cell migration in the presence of different T cells. (i) Quantification of migration distance from the 3D microfluidic model showing dose-dependent inhibition of U87 migration by the CAR T cells. Data were measured on Day 3 from three biological replicates ( n = 3 ) and represented as mean ± SD, T cell donors: DN26, DN28, and DN31, ∗ p < 0.05, ∗∗∗ ∗p < 0.0001. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis, and (ii) Comparison of migration distance of the U87 cells in the presence of different concentrations of the T cell population. Analysis performed on samples captured on Day 3 of migration ( n = 3 ) and represented as mean ± SD, T cell donors: DN26, DN28, and DN31, ∗ p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001, ∗∗∗ ∗p < 0.0001. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis. C) xCELLigence-based real-time evaluation of T cell cytolytic capacity. (i) Time-course of the average cell index ( n = 3 donors ) for UTD, TV-13, and IL-13 CAR T cell groups under a 10:1 E: T condition over a 7-day co-culture, measured using the xCELLigence platform, (ii) Bar plot of xCELLigence data comparing averaged cell index values of tumor cells at Day 0 and Day 7 across UTD, TV-13, and IL-13 CAR T cell groups. Data represent mean ± SEM ( n = 3 donors ), ∗ p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001, ∗∗∗ ∗p < 0.0001, Two-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis, (iii) xCELLigence data from a representative donor (Donor 31) showing dose-dependent killing of U87 cells achieved by five doses of TV-13 CAR T cells, and (iv) IL-13 CAR T cells during a 7-day co-culture period.

Article Snippet: U87 Culture : The Uppsala 87 (U87) Malignant Glioma cell line (HTB-14, ATCC) performed as the target tumor for this study was cultured in complete media composed of Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) with L-Glutamine, and supplemented with 10 % FBS, 1 % HEPES, and 1 % penicillin-streptomycin.

Techniques: Invasion Assay, Migration, Inhibition, Comparison, Co-Culture Assay

Journal: Bioactive Materials

Article Title: Multimodal profiling of CAR T cells against glioblastoma using a microengineered 3D tumor-on-a-chip model

doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2026.01.003

Figure Lengend Snippet: Assessment of migratory behavior and proliferative potential of GBM tumor cells in the presence of engineered T cells. A) Evaluation of changes in migratory behavior of tumor cells across UTD, TV-13, and IL-13 T cells based on cytoskeletal organization. (i) Representative tile image of the 3D GOC model stained for actin cytoskeleton (red) showing the tumor-stroma-vascular interface (left), zoomed-in view highlighting the chain migration of the tumor cells from the tumor to the stroma region (middle), 20X region of interest (ROI) showing the disruption in the migratory pattern of the tumor cells and the formation of immune synapse (IS) (right). The white dashed box represents the ROIs alongside an inset image (ROI1) that highlights the formation of multiple IS between the tumor (green) and T cell within the stroma interface. The white arrow shows the IS formation, and the white dashed arrow represents the line scan utilized for intensity profiling to confirm the reorganization of actin cytoskeleton at the tumor-T cell interface . Red- Actin, Green- U87 cells, and DAPI – Blue . Scale bars: 200 μm (left and middle), 50 μm (right). (ii) Quantification of the number of cells migrating in a chain from near and far regions across three different T cell conditions . Data are represented as mean ± SD measured from three biological replicates ( n = 3 ), T cell donors: DN26, DN28, and DN31, ∗∗∗ p < 0.001 , ∗∗∗ ∗p < 0.0001. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis, (iii) Quantification of the number of cells within a field of view (FOV) from two distinct areas, namely near and far regions, Data are represented as mean ± SD measured from three biological replicated ( n = 3 ), T cell donors: DN26, DN28, and DN31, ∗∗∗ ∗p < 0.0001. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis. B) Immunofluorescent images of the devices stained for proliferation marker Ki-67. (i) Representative 20X ROI image showing the Ki-67 (red) expression on U87 cells (green) and (ii) Quantification of the number of Ki-67 positive cells across each condition through the proliferative index (Ki-67/Nuclei Ratio), Data are represented as mean ± SD measured from three biological replicates ( n = 3 ), T cell donors: DN26, DN28, and DN31, ∗∗ p < 0.01. One-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test was utilized for statistical analysis.

Article Snippet: U87 Culture : The Uppsala 87 (U87) Malignant Glioma cell line (HTB-14, ATCC) performed as the target tumor for this study was cultured in complete media composed of Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM) with L-Glutamine, and supplemented with 10 % FBS, 1 % HEPES, and 1 % penicillin-streptomycin.

Techniques: Staining, Migration, Disruption, Marker, Expressing

Journal: Molecular Therapy Oncology

Article Title: Survivin/BIRC5-derived peptide disrupts survivin dimerization and cell division and induces multifaceted anti-cancer effects

doi: 10.1016/j.omton.2025.201123

Figure Lengend Snippet: Cell death induction by 1H13-survivin/BIRC5-derived peptides targeted to the cytoplasm, mitochondria, or nucleus (A) The sequences added to the 1H13-BIRC5 peptide to target it to the: (1) cytoplasm, (2) mitochondria, or (3) nucleus. The underlined sequence represents the 1H13 peptide; in red, amino acids indicate D-amino acid substitutions. (B) A549 cells were incubated for 90 min with 5 μM FITC-labeled, nucleus-targeted peptide IH13-Nuc, and were also IF-stained with anti--SMAC, anti-IP3R or anti-GM130 antibodies, and stained with DAPI to visualize the mitochondria, ER, Golgi, and nucleus, respectively. Confocal microscope images are shown, with white arrows indicating peptide co-localization with the mitochondria (SMAC). Orange and yellow arrows indicate peptide presence in the nucleus and cytosol, respectively. (C) A549 cells were incubated with the mitochondria- or nucleus-targeted 1H13-BIRC5-derived peptide for 24 h in serum-free medium, followed by a cell proliferation assay using the SRB method. (D and E) Apoptotic cell death as induced in A549 cells following incubation for 24 h with the nucleus-targeted peptide (2/3D-1H13-Nuc) in the presence or absence of the indicated concentrations of the peptides in serum-free medium and subjected to FITC–annexin V/PI staining, followed by a flow cytometry analysis. Representative histograms for control and selected peptide concentration (D) and analysis of early and late apoptotic stages are shown (E). (F and G) Cell death as induced by 2/3D-1H13-Nuc in different cell lines, A549, SH-SY5Y, U-87MG, PC-3, and HUV-EC-C (F) or Jurkat, K562, and KMH2-LC (G) were treated with the indicated concentrations of the peptide for 24 h, then subjected to cell death analysis using propidium iodide (PI) staining and flow cytometry. (H and I) A549 cells were seeded at a density of 2 × 10 5 cells per well in a 12-well plate. After 24 h, the cells were transfected with 2 μg of a pCMV3-survivin expression plasmid (HG10356-UT, Sino Biological, China) or with an empty pCMV3 plasmid (control) using JetPrime transfection reagent (Polyplus, France), following the manufacturer’s instructions. Twenty-four hours post-transfection, the cells were re-seeded at 1 × 10 5 cells per well in a 12-well plate. After another 24 h, the culture medium was replaced with serum-free medium, and the cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of the 2/3D-1H13-Nuc peptide. Survivin overexpression levels were assessed by immunoblotting (H), and cell death was analyzed by propidium iodide (PI) staining followed by FACS analysis (I). Results represent the means ± SEM ( n = 3).

Article Snippet: A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial), MDA-MB-231 (human breast cancer), PC-3 (human prostate adenocarcinoma epithelial), U-87MG (human glioblastoma), SH-SY5Y (human neuroblastoma), HeLa (human cervix adenocarcinoma), Jurkat (human acute T cell leukemia), K562 (human chronic myelogenous leukemia), and KMH2-LC (human anaplastic thyroid carcinoma) cell lines were obtained from the American type culture collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA) and maintained according to ATCC instructions.

Techniques: Derivative Assay, Sequencing, Incubation, Labeling, Staining, Microscopy, Proliferation Assay, Flow Cytometry, Control, Concentration Assay, Transfection, Expressing, Plasmid Preparation, Over Expression, Western Blot

Journal: Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.)

Article Title: SMARCA4 deficiency in glioblastoma: Mitochondrial transfer from MSCs and the clinical dilemma in targeting the tumor microenvironment

doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2026.101288

Figure Lengend Snippet: SMARCA4 Modulates Mesenchymal Stromal Cell-Mediated Glioblastoma Progression. (A) Volcano plots illustrating differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from IDH-wildtype and IDH-mutant glioblastoma (GBM) tissues compared to MSCs from healthy donors (HD). Upregulated genes are shown in red, and downregulated genes are shown in blue. (B) Heatmap displaying the expression of mitochondria-related genes across HD-MSCs, IDH-wildtype GBM-MSCs, and IDH-mutant GBM-MSCs. (C) UMAP clustering of MSCs from HD, IDH-wildtype GBM, and IDH-mutant GBM samples. (D) Expression of SMARCA4 and associated chromatin remodeling genes (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). (E) Schematic representation of SMARCA4 knockdown in HD-MSCs using shRNA and subsequent co-culture experiments with glioblastoma cells. (F) Quantification of CFU formation in glioblastoma cells co-cultured with HD-MSCs or SMARCA4-KD MSCs (***p < 0.001). (G) Cell count analysis showing the number of glioblastoma cells (U87 IDH-wildtype and U87 IDH-mutant) following co-culture with MSCs (**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). (H) Proliferation index quantification, demonstrating that SMARCA4 knockdown in MSCs promotes glioblastoma cell proliferation in both IDH-wildtype and IDH-mutant contexts (**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).

Article Snippet: The experiments utilized two human glioblastoma cell lines: U87 MG (ATCC HTB-14, RRID: CVCL_0022) and its isogenic variant with the IDH1 R132H mutation (ATCC HTB-14IG, RRID: CVCL_UE09).

Techniques: Derivative Assay, Mutagenesis, Expressing, Knockdown, shRNA, Co-Culture Assay, Cell Culture, Cell Characterization

Journal: Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.)

Article Title: SMARCA4 deficiency in glioblastoma: Mitochondrial transfer from MSCs and the clinical dilemma in targeting the tumor microenvironment

doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2026.101288

Figure Lengend Snippet: SMARCA4 Modulates Mitochondrial Transfer in MSCs Through the ROCK1/2 Signaling Axis. (A) Bar graph showing the normalized mitochondrial transfer rate in MSCs treated with various inhibitors (n = 6; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA). (B) Seahorse XF Cell Mito Stress Test measuring oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in MSCs treated with Y27632, a ROCK inhibitor (n = 6; *p < 0.05, two-way ANOVA). (C) Western blot analysis confirming SMARCA4 knockdown in MSCs using antisense shRNA. (D) Western blot analysis of MSCs with SMARCA4 overexpression. (E) Flow cytometric and quantitative analysis of mitochondrial transfer from donor MSCs to recipient U87 cells following overnight MitoTracker washing protocols. Representative histograms show mitochondrial positivity in U87 cells co-cultured system. Data represent mean ± SD (n = 5; *p < 0.05, ****p < 0.0001 by one-way ANOVA). (F) Representative confocal images of U87 cells co-cultured with SMARCA4-KD MSCs. Cells were stained for DNA (blue), mitochondria (green), and tubulin (red). Yellow arrows in enlarged panel indicate transferred MitoTracker-positive mitochondria co-localized with tubulin structures in recipient cells, confirming genuine mitochondrial transfer rather than dye diffusion. Scale bar = 50 μm. Images representative of three independent experiments.

Article Snippet: The experiments utilized two human glioblastoma cell lines: U87 MG (ATCC HTB-14, RRID: CVCL_0022) and its isogenic variant with the IDH1 R132H mutation (ATCC HTB-14IG, RRID: CVCL_UE09).

Techniques: Western Blot, Knockdown, shRNA, Over Expression, Cell Culture, Staining, Diffusion-based Assay

Journal: Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.)

Article Title: SMARCA4 deficiency in glioblastoma: Mitochondrial transfer from MSCs and the clinical dilemma in targeting the tumor microenvironment

doi: 10.1016/j.neo.2026.101288

Figure Lengend Snippet: ROCK Inhibition Enhances GBM Cell Proliferation and Colony Formation. (A, B) Bar graphs quantifying the number of U87 cells (IDH-wildtype and IDH-mutant) after co-culture with HD-MSCs, SMARCA4-KD MSCs (n = 6; ***p < 0.001, Student's t-test). (C, D) Colony formation assays showing that ROCK inhibition enhances clonogenic capacity in GBM cells, mimicking the effects of SMARCA4 knockdown. This effect was observed in both IDH-wildtype and IDH-mutant GBM cells (n = 6; *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, Student's t-test). (E) Colony formation assays after negative sorting of GBM cells post-co-culture.

Article Snippet: The experiments utilized two human glioblastoma cell lines: U87 MG (ATCC HTB-14, RRID: CVCL_0022) and its isogenic variant with the IDH1 R132H mutation (ATCC HTB-14IG, RRID: CVCL_UE09).

Techniques: Inhibition, Mutagenesis, Co-Culture Assay, Knockdown