Exosomes are like a postal system for our cells, tiny packages with molecular information released into the blood stream. Cancer cells also use this postal system to create favorable microenvironments and resist treatment. With funding from Cancer Center Amsterdam Foundation, Dr. Caitrín Crudden and her team want to piece together the molecular machinery that cancer cells use to create these packages and send out their manipulative messages, in order to learn how to stop this method of cancer cell communication.

Spreading the word
Vast numbers of tiny exosomes full of ‘molecular mail’ are released from cancer cells into the bloodstream. Exosomes help the cancer survive, spread and resist effective therapy. Dr. Crudden and her team speculate that disrupting exosome production could slow disease progression and improve outcomes for cancer patients. However, there is a complication: exosomes are so tiny, they are difficult to study. 

Through the looking glass
Dr. Crudden and her team have devised a new methodology that allows them study exosome release if they “lock” them inside cells. “This molecular trick allows us to look into the process with unprecedented resolution,” she says. “Now, we want to search for the genes responsible for producing these exosomes.” As part of the Cancer Center Amsterdam Foundation supported research project titled ‘Genome-wide CRISPR screen for novel modulators of cancer exosome release’, the research team will apply state-of-the-art gene editing screening tools to find genes involved in exosome biology.

Shooting the messenger
By uncovering the genes involved in exosome production in cancer cells, it may be possible to design new drugs that block this communication channel. Dr. Crudden: “Since it is clear this communication via exosomes supports cancer growth and survival, blocking it could help us slow disease progression and improve outcomes for cancer patients.”

Dr. Caitrín Crudden, lead principal investigator Dr. Caitrín Crudden, lead principal investigator

For more information contact Dr. Caitrín Crudden (c.crudden@amsterdamumc.nl) or read more here

People involved at Cancer Center Amsterdam – Amsterdam UMC:
Dr. Caitrín Crudden
Dr. Job de Lange
Prof. Victor van Beusechem

Text by Lynita Howie