Amar Nijagal, MD Awarded American Cancer Society Individual Research Grant

Pediatric surgeon-scientist Amar Nijagal, M.D. has been awarded an American Cancer Society Individual Research Grant to study the crucial link between liver and bile duct development, and hepatobiliary cancers. The study is entitled: “Single cell characterization and organoid development of pediatric choledochal cysts and hepatoblastoma to understand the link between liver development and hepatobiliary malignancy.” 

Project Summary

Developmental abnormalities of the liver and bile ducts can lead to life-threatening cancers. Both choledochal cysts, congenital dilations of the biliary tree associated with a 5,000-fold higher risk of cholangiocarcinoma, and hepatoblastoma, the most common type of pediatric liver cancer that develops from abnormal differentiation of embryonic progenitors, illustrate the link between hepatobiliary anomalies and malignancy.

In collaboration with Dr. Bruce Wang, a hepatologist and physician scientist in the Department of Medicine, we will investigate the crucial link between liver and bile duct development, and hepatobiliary cancers.

Using single cell RNA sequencing, we will define the transcriptome of choledochal cysts and hepatoblastoma at the level of the single cell. We will also develop patient-derived organoids from each of these conditions as a platform for drug discovery and testing.

Using these technologies, we will be able to understand the molecular signals that drive cholangiocarcinoma, determine how normal developmental pathways involved with hepatocyte differentiation contributes to the pathogenesis of hepatoblastoma and its tumor heterogeneity, and establish patient-specific organoids as a platform for drug discovery and testing in these rare hepatobiliary disorders.