# Patient-Matched Stem Cells of the Barrett's-Dysplasia-Adenocarcinoma Sequence

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · 2022 · $135,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Virtual Biorespository (Core A)
The absence of reliable, patient-specific models in cancer biology has been a chronic impediment to
understanding heterogeneity, progression, metastasis, and chemotherapy resistance. Recent advances in
technologies for cloning adult stem cells resident in normal, regenerative epithelia have been adapted to
cloning stem cells from Barrett's esophagus. Investigators in the proposed Center have now extended this
technology, in preliminary studies, to cloning the stem cells of dysplastic Barrett's and adenocarcinoma itself.
The impact of this technology for resolving key questions in Barrett's and cancer biology in general, including
the precise steps in tumorigenesis from precursor lesions, the functional and genomic intra-tumor
heterogeneity and its impact on chemotherapy resistance, and lastly the nature and targetability of stem cells
of precursor lesions and frank adenocarcinoma, is potentially transformative. As potentially transformative is a
biorepository that exploits the regenerative and clonal nature of these stem cells to extend our knowledge of
discrete cases in parallel fashion. In Aim 1, we will generate high-density arrays of stem cell clones
corresponding to a topological sampling across four mucosal resections of patients with early adenocarcinoma.
Aim 2 will generate large libraries of cancer stem cells from advanced cases of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Aim 3 will generate an interactive database that links datasets from both the arrays of clones derived from
mucosal resections as well as those associated with analyses of the cancer stem cell libraries. We anticipate
that such a virtual database of datasets would greatly augment downstream studies with the same libraries and
discrete clones as each would come with such linked datasets that would be further extended by ongoing and
future studies by investigators within the Center and across the community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10607403
- **Project number:** 3U24CA228550-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** FRANK D. MCKEON
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $135,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-04-11 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10607403

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10607403, Patient-Matched Stem Cells of the Barrett's-Dysplasia-Adenocarcinoma Sequence (3U24CA228550-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10607403. Licensed CC0.

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