# Vascularized tumor explants for drug testing

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2021 · $378,078

## Abstract

Project Abstract
Our understanding of cancer progression or response to therapies would benefit from easily accessible, patient-
specific assays that recapitulate the biology and anatomy of human tumors. To this end, we will develop
methodology for integrating tumor explants with engineered stroma and vasculature in vitro. With appropriate
culture conditions, a self-assembled vascular network develops and then incorporates into co-cultured tumors
excised from mice or patients. The system provides a representative extracellular matrix, associated stromal cells,
and a lumenized vessel network. The methodology is straightforward and amenable to high throughput assays,
making it an attractive tool for in vitro drug screening or for the guidance of patient-specific chemotherapies. Using
this approach, we propose to create a platform for optimally maintaining samples from patients with pancreatic
ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) ex vivo in vascularized tumor explants (VTEs) for the purpose of biological analysis
and drug testing. We will characterize the VTEs and validate the system using mouse xenograft models and surgical
tissue samples from PDAC patients treated at the MGH Cancer Center. When complete, this project will establish
a robust, high throughput, and validated platform for analyzing tumor biology or drug testing, thus accelerating
cancer research and enabling personalize therapy for cancer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10317398
- **Project number:** 1R01CA247441-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Dan Gabriel Duda
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $378,078
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10317398

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10317398, Vascularized tumor explants for drug testing (1R01CA247441-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10317398. Licensed CC0.

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