Novel Platform for Target Discovery and Validation for Chronic Lung Disease Using Personalized 3D Lung Tissue Units

Summary

• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are chronic and disabling lung diseases that cause significant lung damage
• Currently, no disease modifying therapies exist for IPF and COPD and no current therapies effectively target distal lung tissue remodeling and prevent disease progression (see figure)
• A large barrier to drug discovery for IPF and COPD is the lack of models capturing the pathology of disease in a tissue specific context
• Dr. Shaykhiev has deep domain expertise in lung biology and disease and in patient-derived models
• The Shaykhiev lab has developed novel 3D-Lung Tissue Units (LTUs) that can accurately recapitulate patient specific disease conditions and enable parallel evaluation of pathological processes occurring in different lung regions

Technical Overview

The 3D-LTUs developed by the Shaykhiev lab exhibit three unique components missing in existing humanized models:

• Native histological arrangements with preserved airway and alveolar architecture
• Preserved tissue and disease specific cellular ecosystems such as tissue specific regenerative niches and region-specific microenvironments
• Patient specific disease defining lesions

These patient specific unique 3D-LTUs can also be maintained in 3D matrix supported culture for over four weeks.

Over the past five years, the lab has bio-banked > 200 samples of chronic lung disease and plans to establish 3D-LTUs from patients with chronic lung disease to better understand mechanisms of inflammation and tissue remodeling.

Market Opportunity

• Novel, patient specific 3D-LTU models developed by the Shaykhiev lab offers an unprecedented approach to understanding underlying patho—physiological processes that contribute to disease development and progression
• These 3D-LTUs will enable highly accurate target identification for novel drugs as well as the ability to validate drugs in a patient specific context and across a wide variety of disease presentations

Partnering Opportunity

Weill Cornell Medicine is seeking a strong industrial partner with whom to collaborate around a dedicated program aimed at developing a biobank of 3D-LTUs as well as testing novel therapeutic modalities for chronic lung disease

Figure 1: Illustrated example of lung damage in IPF and COPD (Source).