DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACELLULAR EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX AS A THREE-DIMENSIONAL SCAFFOLD FOR ESOPHAGEAL TUMOR ENGINEERING

Human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (hESCC) is a very aggressive form of cancer due to its ability to easily metastasize into proximal lymph nodes and adjacent organs. The role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and its stromal cells in metastasis remains unclear. To better understand the effect of the ECM and fibroblast cells on esophagus cancer cell migration and invasion, we propose a biomimetic human esophagus model cultured with hESCC and human primary fibroblast cells (fibroblast). To mimic the extracellular matrix of human esophagus we use decellularized porcine esophagus matrix (DEM) to culture with hESCC and fibroblasts in static conditions. This DEM can recapitulate the human esophagus tumor microenvironment with relevant cues. This model will provide valuable information regarding esophagus cancer cell migration with respect to the heterogeneous extracellular matrix and stromal fibroblast cells. We expect to discover the mechanisms by which extracellular matrix and stromal cells affect cancer migration and invasion in vitro. Characterizing this process will provide vital insight towards the effects of fibroblasts cells on facilitating migration and invasion of esophageal cancer cells. This esophagus cancer model also provides promising potential to study drug screening and develop new strategies against esophagus metastasis.