Chris P. Miller^1,9, Woojung Shin^2,9, Eun Hyun Ahn³, Hyun Jung Kim^2,4,5,7,*, Deok-Ho Kim^1,3,6,8,*

¹ Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
⁴ Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
⁵ Department of Medical Engineering, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
⁶ Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
⁷ http://sites.utexas.edu/biome
⁸ https://openwetware.org/wiki/Kim
⁹ Equal contribution

^*Correspondence : Hyun Jung Kim, Deok-Ho Kim

Tissues- and organs-on-chips are microphysiological systems (MPSs) that model the architectural and functional complexity of human tissues and organs that is lacking in conventional cell monolayer cultures. While substantial progress has been made in a variety of tissues and organs, chips recapitulating immune responses have not advanced as rapidly. This review discusses recent progress in MPSs for the investigation of immune responses. To illustrate recent developments, we focus on two cases in point: immunocompetent tumor microenvironment-on-a-chip devices that incorporate stromal and immune cell components and pathomimetic modeling of human mucosal immunity and inflammatory crosstalk. More broadly, we discuss the development of systems immunology-on-a-chip devices that integrate microfluidic engineering approaches with high-throughput omics measurements and emerging immunological applications of MPSs.

Keywords
microphysiological systems; engineering immune system responses; immune system-on-a-chip; tumor immune microenvironment; intestinal inflammation; systems immunology