Rachel DeRita,
Director, Extracellular Vesicle Core Facility
In the laboratory of Dr. Lucia Languino, my work focused on prostate cancer progression and the effects of EVs on cancer cell behavior. I presented for the first time that c-Src is highly enriched in prostate cancer EVs and that phospho-Src, phospho-FAK, GRK5/6, and IGF-IR, all important molecules in the progression of prostate cancer, are also enriched in exosomes. This information provided valuable insight into potential EV biomarkers and molecules of functional consequence secreted into the tumor microenvironment via EVs. I went on to identify a single cell type (the prostate epithelium) within the prostate tumor is responsible for producing EVs that possess ß1Integrin-dependent pro-tumor function. This was the first time anyone had identified in vivo a single cell type within the tumor that was the source of an oncogenic subset of EVs. This built upon previous work from ours and other laboratories that had identified general epithelial-derived EV subsets or tumor-derived EVs, which could come from a variety of cell types or locations in the body, when considering a plasma-derived EV sample. My work has helped gain significant insight into molecular mechanisms of EV-mediated regulation of the tumor microenvironment and into finding potential EV-based biomarkers in the blood. I continually trained and mentored younger students and laboratory members and taught the basics of best practices when conducting research on EVs.
|
|
|
