Emerging roles of microfluidics in oral cancer research and clinical translation

Oral cancer remains a global health burden, with limited improvements in long-term survival despite advances in multimodal therapy. Advances in early diagnosis and treatment strategies for oral cancer patients will significantly improve survival outcomes. Microfluidic technology, with its capacity for precise fluid manipulation, high-throughput analysis, and experimental miniaturization, has emerged as a powerful tool to accelerate innovations in cancer research and has become a pivotal pathway in oral cancer investigation and clinical translation. This review systematically examines the expanding roles of microfluidics in oral cancer research, with a particular focus on microfluidics-based liquid biopsy for early detection and prognosis, and microfluidics-enabled therapeutic strategies for treatment development and optimization. By bridging basic research with clinical application, microfluidics holds the potential to revolutionize early diagnosis, precision therapeutics, and functional outcome-oriented management in oral cancer, ultimately improving patient survival and quality of life.