Exosomes in Development and Therapy of Malignant Mesothelioma
Abstract
Exosomes are tiny vesicles that carry information from one body cell type to another. We proposed that exosomes released from epithelial cells or macrophages in response to asbestos exposure can carry the information to mesothelial cells enabling the development of malignant mesothelioma (MM). We also hypothesized that exosomes released from primary MM tumors may contribute to growth and metastasis of primary tumors. Our work so far demonstrated that exosomes released from asbestos-exposed epithelial cells carry a different proteomic signature than exosomes from unexposed epithelial cells. Fluorescent-labelled exosomes injected into the tail vein of mice showed the presence of exosomes from asbestos-exposed epithelial cells into omentum, whereas exosomes from unexposed cells were not found in the omentum. This significant finding shows that exosomes released from asbestos-exposed epithelial cells carry a specific signature that leads them into mesothelial cells (omentum). Presently we are studying the effect of exosomes from asbestos-exposed epithelial cells in transformation of mesothelial cells, a process that may lead to MM. We also examined exosomes secreted from primary MM cells in mice, and found no significant effect of these exosomes on MM tumor growth and metastasis in this short term experiment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- AD1007762
Entities
People
- Arti Shukla
Organizations
- University of Vermont