Timeframe: 2024 – 2025
Goals: Model development
Principal Investigators: Aleksander Skardal, PhD
Study overview: While researchers have made progress in treating fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a big challenge remains – scientists do not have good lab models that mimic the real disease. Right now, there are very few FLC cell lines, patient-derived xenografts (PDX), or other 3D lab-grown models that researchers can use to study the disease and test potential new therapies. The few 3D models that exist use a material called Matrigel, which comes from mouse tumors and contains unknown factors that can distort results.
The Skardal lab specializes in creating well-defined, engineered hydrogel materials to grow 3D tumor models without Matrigel. They have successfully built these models for many cancer types, including rare ones, and they work well for testing treatments.
In this project, the team aims to apply their hydrogel system to create FLC tumor models from preserved patient samples. they plan to check that the cells stay alive and grow, and will study what types of cells are present—especially immune and support cells. If needed, they’ll enhance the models with liver-specific cells to better mimic real conditions.
If successful, this effort will provide a mechanism to study FLC in a more realistic way and to test new treatments — especially immune-based therapies — faster and more reliably.