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Organ-on-Chip (OoC) systems offer researchers the unique opportunity to mimic the structure and physiology of human organs in the laboratory. Over the last decade, the field has rapidly progressed and the systems are increasingly applied in disease modeling and therapy development. Despite this, the ethical implications around their development and use have been largely unexplored. PREPARE researchers at reNEW Leiden now mapped these ethical and philosophical issues in Stem Cell Reports. They thereby contribute to the responsible development and governance of OoC technology.
Accurate model systems are essential for advancing our understanding of organ function in both health and disease, as well as for developing new therapies. To achieve this, traditional animal models are increasingly being replaced by complex, physiologically relevant human cell culture systems.
“Cell culture technology has come a long way,” said reNEW PI and co-author Christine Mummery. “Early systems were simple two-dimensional monolayers, but we can now model tissues and organs in three dimensions. OoC systems represent an even greater level of sophistication—they enable us to mimic and precisely control key factors such as oxygen levels, mechanical stress, and nutrient flow, all of which play critical roles in organ function under healthy and diseased conditions.”
Understudied but essential
Although technological progress in this field has received considerable attention, the ethical dimensions of OoC development and implementation have so far remained largely unexplored. Yet, addressing these questions is essential to ensure the responsible innovation and application of OoC technology in both fundamental and clinical research. For the first time, reNEW researchers have therefore now systematically mapped these ethical issues.
A comparative approach
To do so, the authors conducted a literature review combined with a comparative analytical approach.
First author Jesse Weidema explains: “Because the body of literature specifically addressing OoC ethics is still very limited, we also examined ethical and philosophical discussions related to organoids, precision medicine, and digital twins. This broader perspective helped us identify gaps in the current literature and gain a more complete understanding of the ethical challenges linked to the development and use of OoC technology.”
Through this analysis, the researchers identified ethical issues across nine key themes, spanning three stages of the development pipeline: research, clinical testing, and implementation.
Gaps
While some of these nine themes have received considerable attention in the past, others are largely unexplored. The review thereby provides several recommendations for further normative inquiry that fill current gaps in knowledge around OoC ethics.
reNEW AI Nienke de Graeff concludes: “OoC systems have brought revolutionary possibilities to accurately model organs in health in disease. Through mapping ethical and philosophical questions now, we contribute to the responsible development and governance of OoC technology.”
