New models of care and multidimensional solutions for oncological patients in the post-acute SARS-COV-2 period: a "Second Phase" also for cancer patients.

In Italy, SARS-CoV-2 outbreak registered a high transmission and disease rates. During the acute phase, oncologists provided to re-organize services and prioritize treatments, in order to limit viral spread and to protect cancer patients. The progressive reduction of the number of infections has prompted Italian government to gradually loosen the national confinement measures and to start the "Second phase" of measures to contain the pandemic. The issue on how to organize cancer care during this post-acute SARS-CoV-2 phase appears crucial and a reassessment of healthcare services is needed requiring new models of care for oncological patients. In order to address major challenges in cancer setting during post-acute SARS-CoV-2 phase, this work offers multidimensional solutions aimed to provide a new way to take care of cancer patients.

Monitoring Caco-2 to enterocyte-like cells differentiation by means of electric impedance analysis on printed sensors.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (Caco-2) are a widely used model of intestinal barrier to study cancer development, toxicological assessments, absorption and metabolism in food science or drug discovery. Caco-2 spontaneously differentiate into a monolayer expressing several specific characteristics, typically showed by mature enterocytes. For in vitro experiments, it is crucial to identify non-invasive and non-destructive techniques able to evaluate the integrity and differentiation of the cells monolayer. Thus, we aimed to assess these properties by analyzing electrical impedance measurements. METHODS: Caco-2 cells were differentiated for 21 days. The monolayer integrity and differentiation were primarily evaluated by means of morphological, biochemical and molecular data. Impedance measurements in a range of frequencies from 400 Hz to 50 kHz were performed using a dedicated set up, including customized Aerosol Jet Printed carbon-based sensors. RESULTS: The trends of RI observed at three different frequencies were able to describe cell growth and differentiation. In order to evaluate which frequencies better correlate with cell differentiation, Principal Component Analysis have been employed and the concordance analysis between RI magnitude and morphological, biochemical and molecular data, highlighted 40 kHz as the optimal frequency to assess Caco-2 cells differentiation process. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of applying impedance-based measurements not only to provide information about the monolayer status, but also for cell differentiation monitoring. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: This study underlined the possibility to use a dedicated sensor to assess the integrity and differentiation of Caco-2 monolayer, as a reliable non-destructive alternative to conventional approaches.