Three-dimensional bone scaffold for modeling cancers

This technology is a three-dimensional decellularized bone scaffold that replicates the tumor microenvironment for more accurate cell culture and drug screening for Ewing’s sarcoma.

Unmet Need: Scaffold for three-dimensional tissue culture of the tumor microenvironment

Prostate cancer and Ewing's sarcoma are human diseases that are not accurately represented in an animal model. As a result, current experimental methods and models to study cancer growth and progression mainly utilize in vitro two-dimensional (2D) co-culturing of cancer specific cell lines and other cells found locally in the tumor. However, these 2D models fail to capture the true three-dimensional (3D) progression of tumors and are limited in their ability to identify therapeutic targets, leading to the failure to translate observed in vitro effects to in vivo studies. Therefore, there remains a substantial need for a 3D culture model that accurately models the tumor microenvironment and tumor phenotypes.

The Technology: High-throughput and quantitative method for modeling patient tumors to identify therapeutic targets

This technology is a 3D decellularized bone scaffold that is seeded with cancer cells to accurately model various forms of cancer and the in vivo tumor phenotype and microenvironment. The 3D scaffold can be used in a high-throughput assay with cancer cell lines, such as prostate cancer and Ewing's sarcoma, to identify therapeutic targets and drug candidates. Additionally, this scaffold can also be used with patient-derived cancer cells and mesenchymal stem cells for a personalized approach to cancer modelling and treatment. As a result, this technology offers a controllable, quantitative, and clinically-relevant approach for studying and treating cancers such as Ewing sarcoma (ES).

A prototype of this technology has been demonstrated to accurately mimic the native bone tumor microenvironment of Ewing’s sarcoma.

Applications:

• Model for Ewing’s sarcoma
• Model for prostate cancer
• Drug screening for therapeutic targets
• Predicting in vivo efficacy of therapeutic candidates
• Studying tumor development from patient cells

Advantages:

• Can be used to model a variety of tumors
• High-throughput platform for disease analysis and drug screening
• Use of patient samples enables personalized disease modeling

Lead Inventor:

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending (US 20160168542)

Related Publications:

• Villasante A, Marturano-Kruik A, Vunjak-Novakovic G. “Bioengineered human tumor within a bone niche” Biomaterials. 2014 Jul;35(22):5785-94. Editor’s Choice, Science Translational Medicine K. L. Spiller, How to Build a Better Bone Tumor. Sci. Transl. Med. 6, 235ec81, 2014.

• Marturano-Kruik A, Yeager K, Bach D, Villasante A, Cimetta E and Vunjak-Novakovic G. “Mimicking biophysical stimuli within bone tumor microenvironment” IEEE. 2015 Aug;3561-4, 2015.

• Villasante A, Marturano-Kruik A, Ambati SR, Liu Z, Parsa H, Moore MAS and Vunjak-Novakovic G. “Recapitulating the size and cargo of tumor exosomes in a tissue-engineered model” Theranostics 2016 6(8):1119-1130.

• Marturano-Kruik, Villasante A, Yaeger K, Ambati SR, Chramiec A, Raimondi MT, Vunjak-Novakovic G. “Biomechanical Regulation of Drug Sensitivity in an Engineered Model of Human Tumor” Biomaterials 2018 150:150-161.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU14010

• Licensing Contact: Beth Kauderer