Abstract

Profiling EV Subsets and Cargo to Enable Adaptive Tumor- and Immuno-therapies

Jennifer Jones, NIH Stadtman Investigator, Head of Transnational Nanobiology, Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute

Exosomes and small viruses fall below the detection limits of conventional flow cytometers, which has limited ways to identify, sort, and study, distinct subsets of EVs and other nanoparticles as single particles. In order to maximize information and material that can be obtained with high speed, high resolution flow cytometers we have developed nanoscale Fluorescence Associated Cytometric Sorting (nanoFACS). We have demonstrated nanoFACS to be capable of detecting tumor-cell derived EVs with specific tumor antigens, such as Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA), with fluorescence and scattered light parameters, as well as being capable of sorting two distinct HIV strains (85-125 nm) to >95% purity. The development of our nanoFACS method provides a unique way to analyze and sort functional EV- and viral-subsets, while preserving vesicular structure, surface protein specificity, and RNA cargo activity.