Abstract

Function and Clinical Utility of Cancer-derived Extracellular Vesicles

Andreas Möller, Associate Professor, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

Late diagnosis and lack of reliable prognostic outcome predictions are important unmet clinical needs. Reasons for our inability to generate reliable diagnostic, prognostic and/or predictive biomarkers are the incomplete understanding of cancer progression, especially metastatic spread. For a cancer to spread from the primary site to distant organs, a large number of essential steps have to be overcome. We, and others, showed that cancer-secreted factors, including extracellular vesicles (EVs), are mediators of creating immune-suppressed, permissive environments (pre-metastatic niches) at distant organs before the arrival of cancer cells. In this presentation, I will summarize the research approaches in the area of cancer-derived EVs undertaken by my group. I will discuss novel data on how cancer-derived EVs can specifically distribute to certain organs in the body, depending on the tumor microenvironment of the primary tumors. These modifications increase pre-metastatic niche formation and metastatic spread. Analyzing the content of cancer-derived EVs, I will additionally show intriguing clinical data on how the content of plasma EVs can be used to diagnose cancer in the first place and then to predict the outcome of a patient at baseline.