# Development of an in vitro 3D tumor tissue engineering model for esophageal cancer

> **NIH NIH R03** · FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $71,142

## Abstract

Project Summary
The objective of this project is to develop an in vitro biomimetic human esophageal tumor tissue model for
preclinical research on esophageal cancer. Esophageal cancer, a deadly cancer with no effective treatments,
is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite many years of research to improve the
treatment outcomes of patients with esophageal cancer, the overall five-year survival rate of esophageal
cancer patients remained only 18.8% in 2017. The limited progress in treating esophagus cancer patients is
related to the limitations of current in vitro and in vivo esophageal cancer study models to some degrees, as
those in vitro 2D cancer cell culture models or in vivo xenograft animal models differ greatly from the human
esophageal cancer microenvironment. There is no suitable in vitro human esophageal cancer model available
to study new strategies of drug screening, the function of a drug-eluting stent, and molecular mechanism of
cancer cell lymph metastasis. The severe lack of in vitro human esophageal cancer models has impeded the
breakthrough development of new therapeutic strategies for the deadly disease. To change the situation, we
propose to develop an esophageal tumor tissue engineering model using a decellularized pig esophagus in a
three-dimensional (3D) culture system. This 3D rotatory wall vessel bioreactor (RVWB) can support tumor cell
growth and form a mimicking tumor tissue. We hypothesize that a 3D mimicking human esophageal tumor
tissue model can be formed in the RVWB tissue culture system for esophageal cancer studies. To test this
hypothesis, we propose the following specific aims: First, we will characterize the human esophageal cancer
cells mono-cultured in the 3D tissue culture system (Aim 1). We will then co-culture esophageal cancer cells
and stromal cell fibroblast, and then validate the 3D esophageal tumor tissue model (Aim 2). If successful, the
study will enable us to establish an in vitro biomimetic human esophageal cancer model, which will bring about
great promise to basic and applied esophageal cancer research, and promote the development of new
targeting therapeutic strategies. This project will be a stepping-stone for our long-term goal to establish a
clinically-relevant esophageal tumor model for drug screening, cancer stent, and metastasis molecular
mechanism studies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852996
- **Project number:** 5R03CA235244-02
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Yunqing Kang
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $71,142
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-23 → 2021-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852996

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852996, Development of an in vitro 3D tumor tissue engineering model for esophageal cancer (5R03CA235244-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852996. Licensed CC0.

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