Stem cell-derived esophageal progenitor cells

This technology consists of methods to generate esophageal progenitor cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).

Unmet Need: Accurate models of human esophageal tissue for research

Animals are frequently used as analogs to human tissues for developing therapeutics. However, these models are frequently lacking, and in the case of esophageal models, significant discrepancies exist between the mouse and human esophagus that makes access to a human tissue model necessary for research purposes.

The Technology: A method to generate human esophageal tissue models in vitro

This methodology consists of a 4-stage process by which hPSCs are differentiated into endoderm cells, anterior foregut cells, and finally esophageal progenitor cells using a cocktail of growth factors and different differentiation mediums. This technology enables production of mature esophageal and lung epithelium, which can be used in high-throughput testing to study the development of the tissue and its response to various therapeutics. The technology also consists of a kit comprising of mouse or human pluripotent stem cells, serum-free medium, and the differentiation mediums needed to generate esophageal progenitor cells.

This technology has been validated in vitro, with hPSC-derived esophageal epithelial progenitors recapitulating the normal development of the stratified squamous epithelium in the human esophagus.

Applications:

• Develop therapeutics for esophageal disorders
• Test individual patient responses to multiple therapeutics
• Study growth and development of esophageal tissue under different disease conditions
• Provide ground work for future research on graft production
• Template for additional stem cell-based therapeutics

Advantages:

• Accurate model of human tissue & structure
• High-throughput platform for disease analysis and drug screening
• Enables growth of patient tissue for individual screening
• Allows convenient use in research settings with kit instructional packaging

Lead Inventor:

Jianwen Que, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending (US 20190112579)

Related Publications:

• Zhang Y, Yang Y, Jiang M, Huang X, Zhang W, Alam DA, Danopoulos S, Mori M, Chen YW, Balasubramanian R, de Sousa Lopes SM, Serra C, Bialecka M, Kim E, Lin S, Carvalho AL, Riccio PN, Cardoso W, Zhang X, Snoeck HW, Que J. “3D modeling of esophageal development using human PSC-derived basal progenitors reveals a critical role for Notch signaling” Cell Stem Cell. 2018

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU18124, CU15206

• Licensing Contact: Joan Martinez