Article title: A human Barrett’s esophagus organoid system reveals epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity induced by acid and bile salts
Authors: Qiuyang Zhang, Ajay Bansal, Kerry B. Dunbar, Yan Chang, Jianning Zhang, Uthra Balaji, Jinghua Gu, Xi Zhang, Eitan Podgaetz, Zui Pan, Stuart Jon Spechler, and Rhonda F. Souza
From the authors: “For patients with [Barrett’s esophagus], our findings suggest that the gastroesophageal reflux of acid and bile salts can induce plasticity in Barrett’s progenitor cells that enable them to migrate under adjacent squamous epithelium, resulting in [subsquamous intestinal metaplasia], a condition that may underlie Barrett’s cancers that escape detection by endoscopic surveillance and recurrences of Barrett’s metaplasia following endoscopic eradication therapy.”
This study is highlighted as one of June’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.
