Serial Endoscopic Evaluation of Esophageal Disease in a Cancer Model: A Paradigm Shift for Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (EAC) Drug Discovery and Development

A rat model of surgically induced reflux recapitulates the development and progression of human esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). In this study, reflux was induced in rats followed by postoperative endoscopy with biopsy, to diagnose and monitor disease progression. Overall, percentage agreement between visual endoscopy and gold standard histology was 95%, with disease-specific classification accuracies of 100% and 75% for Barrett's with dysplasia and EAC, respectively. Additionally, the percentage agreement for biopsy in tumors4 mm was 75%. Thereby, establishing endoscopic evaluation as a reliable tool to assess disease progression and provide biopsies for downstream correlates in a de novo EAC model.