"We believe each tumor type will have its own exosomal protein profile that will represent each tumor subtype," says Dr. Jacqueline F. Bromberg, an associate attending physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and associate professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell, who studies breast cancer. "The exosomal proteins will be useful for prognosis in predicting which patients, including those who develop disease decades after their original diagnosis, will likely be at risk for future metastatic disease."
Dr. Lyden and Dr. Bromberg are the study's co-senior authors.
The study's lead author, Dr. Hector Peinado, instructor of molecular biology in the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College, says the study suggests that effective cancer treatment must be multi-layered. "If, in the future, we were able to find a way to control the 'education' of bone marrow cells, as well as the release and content of tumor exosomes in cancer patients, we would be able to curtail and reduce the spread of cancer, and improve the patient's quality of life and survival," he says.
Not Just Trash Bags
Dr. Lyden and his colleagues have long been trying to decode the biochemical processes that produce the "pre-metastatic niche" -- the sites in distant organs that are primed to provide a nurturing home for cells that spread from a primary tumor. He and his colleagues were first to identify that bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) were found to be crucial to formation of this niche. In this study they sought to understand the signals that prompt BMDCs to do their work at the niche. They looked at exosomes, microvesicles secreted by all cells, which were long thought to be just cellular trash bags to dump used proteins. Recently, however, exosomes were found to contain RNA, including nucleic acids found in cancer cells. Interest in exosomes increased due to their obvious diagnostic po
'/>"/>
| Contact: Lauren Woods law2014@med.cornell.edu 212-821-0560 New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College Source:Eurekalert |