Authors: Alex Abramson, Carmel T. Chan, Yasser Khan, Alana Mermin-Bunnell, Naoji Matsuhisa, Robyn Fong, Rohan Shad, William Hiesinger, Parag Mallick, Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, Zhenan Bao
Published: 2022-09-16
Source: Full article
Assessing the efficacy of cancer therapeutics in mouse models is a critical step in treatment development. However, low-resolution measurement tools and small sample sizes make determining drug efficacy in vivo a difficult and time-intensive task. Here, we present a commercially scalable wearable electronic strain sensor that automates the in vivo testing of cancer therapeutics by continuously monitoring the micrometer-scale progression or regression of subcutaneously implanted tumors at the minute time scale. In two in vivo cancer mouse models, our sensor discerned differences in tumor volume dynamics between drug- and vehicle-treated tumors within 5 hours following therapy initiation. These short-term regression measurements were validated through histology, and caliper and bioluminescence measurements taken over weeklong treatment periods demonstrated the correlation with longer-term treatment response. We anticipate that real-time tumor regression datasets could help expedite and automate the process of screening cancer therapies in vivo.