Extracellular vesicles for early detection and optimized therapy in kidney cancer patients

Early detection and individual prognostic evaluation could improve therapy optimization. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) a new class of biomarkers from liquid biopsies. In this regard, there is a need for isolation of tumor-released EVs from blood or urine using tumorspecific markers.

Saarland University researchers show that the expression of tumor specific markers in cells and EVs is cell line specific. These observations suggest specific sorting mechanisms and functions of these proteins depending on the tumor cell origin. In contrast to EpCAM, CA9 and CD147 could represent promising tumor specific biomarkers in RCC. The use of ultracentrifugation combined with classical techniques for proteomics, together with novel high-resolution techniques, are potential tools for EV biomarker discovery.