# A vascularized microphysiological system (MPS) platform for modeling peritoneal carcinomatosis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2024 · $501,606

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) is the deadliest form of colorectal cancer (CRC) and gastric cancer (GC)
metastasis, with a median survival of 10-18 months for CRC and less than this for GC. PC is a common form of
metastasis in both CRC and GC, each with an incidence of between 10 and 50%. Unfortunately, there are few
treatments available, and there exist large regional and ethnic disparities in each of these diseases, emphasizing
the need for increased research on developing improved therapies. This development is slowed by the absence
of appropriate in vitro models and the gaps in our knowledge of how metastasis occurs. Our application is
focused on improving this situation. Here we propose to characterize and utilize a recently-developed in vitro PC
model (the Vascularized Micro-Peritoneum, VMP) for use as a therapeutic development tool. The model is based
on our vascularized micro-tumor (VMT) platform, a microphysiological system (MPS) that allows direct
observation of living cells that are proliferating, metabolizing, migrating, and dying in a complex 3D environment.
This application is in response to the Funding Opportunity Announcement PAR-22-099 titled “Cancer Tissue
Engineering Collaborative: Enabling Biomimetic Tissue-Engineered Technologies for Cancer Research”, the
stated goal of which is to “support the development and characterization of state-of-the-art biomimetic tissue-
engineered technologies for cancer research.” In general, systemically-delivered drugs have not been
especially effective against PC as much of the early growth occurs on the surface of the peritoneum, somewhat
distant from the underlying blood vessels and so hard to target with high doses of drug. Most patients now
receive neoadjuvant systemic therapy followed by cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intra-peritoneal
chemoperfusion (HIPEC), which has resulted in a general increase in patient survival. Despite this
improvement, most patients still develop recurrent disease in less than a year and the majority die due to
disease by 5 years. Hence there is a huge unmet need for new and improved therapies for patients with PC,
and repurposing drugs approved for other cancers might be a promising approach.
Our hypothesis is that: A microphysiological system platform can be used to help identify improved
therapies for peritoneal carcinomatosis.
To test this hypothesis we will pursue the following aims:
1. Characterize a dual-tissue platform that models peritoneal carcinomatosis
2. Correlate platform performance to in vivo data in a prospective Clinical Study
3. Test drug sensitivities of PC tumors in the VMT/VMP

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10859107
- **Project number:** 1R01CA290115-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTOPHER C. W. HUGHES
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $501,606
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-06-01 → 2029-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10859107

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10859107, A vascularized microphysiological system (MPS) platform for modeling peritoneal carcinomatosis (1R01CA290115-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10859107. Licensed CC0.

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