Progenitor Cells in Human Esophagus

The researchers will collect information from the patient's medical record and collect esophageal tissue at the time of the patient's surgery in excess of clinical diagnosis (i.e. tissue that would otherwise be discarded). There will be no patient contact after the patient's surgery. The researchers will analyze sections of adult esophagus tissue for the presence of CD34+ sox2+ progenitor cells to determine the number of progenitors present at a particular age. The researchers will also examine sections of different portions of the esophagus, to determine whether certain sections contain more progenitors, and thus perhaps a greater ability to regenerate, than others.

This study involves testing DNA and patients will not be notified of the genetic test results and the results will not be put into their medical record. Patients will be asked to give consent to have any remaining esophageal tissue used for future studies of esophageal disease at Mayo Clinic, learn about, prevent, or treat any other health problems and give their sample and related information to researchers at other institutions.