I-Corps: High-Content Tissue Assay for Oncology Drug Screening

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to significantly improve the prediction of drug response during preclinical testing. This will result in a potentially higher rate of FDA approvals and successful translation of drugs to the market. For example, fifteen million people in the US are burdened with cancer, yet across all drug trials, oncology drugs experience the lowest approval rate at 5.1%. A screening method that improves the predictability of drug responses in both safety and efficacy during preclinical drug testing would have a profound impact. Better drug screening methods will lead to improvements in successful clinical trial outcomes, thereby increasing the number of new drugs that are approved to enter the market. Increasing the availability of new drugs will improve treatment options for patients and increase survival rates. This I-Corps project will introduce a new platform technology for preclinical drug screening to evaluate multi-cellular and multi-system responses. The technology represents a significant advancement to the field of tissue engineered models for drug screening by incorporating multiple tissue-systems into a single assay that provides physiologically relevant readouts for reliable drug response prediction. The model integrates vascular function across multiple physiological systems; multi-system readouts are important for evaluating the effects of drugs on a tissue as an integrated whole. The technology has been initially demonstrated for preclinical drug screening through the application of an anti-cancer drug that prevents the growth of blood vessels. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.