The “tumor-on-a-chip” recreates the body’s tumor environment in miniature, complete with blood vessels and immune cells, so researchers can “see” what helps or hinders engineered immune cells inside solid tumors.

Adding vildagliptin, a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes, to the chip, allows many more CAR T cells to break through the protective tumor microenvironment and attack the tumor.

These chips could help accelerate the development of more efficacious and safer immunotherapies for cancer patients while reducing the need for the use of other preclinical models.

Restoring the molecule, called pleiotrophin, could improve brain function in Down syndrome and other neurological diseases – possibly even in adults, the researchers say.