Novel Liquid Biopsy Technique for Monitoring mRNA in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

In an article recently published in the journal Cancer cellResearchers from the Vall d’Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO) describe how they have developed a new liquid biopsy-based tool for monitoring expression of tumor genes from mRNA contained in extracellular vesicles comes from a tumor. Joaquin Mateo, a medical oncologist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, head of the VHIO Prostate Cancer Translational Research Group and senior author of this study, explains more. This opens the way to identify biomarkers for treatment response analysis and the acquisition of resistance and thus make the most appropriate clinical decisions at each stage of the disease.”

Monitoring mRNA in metastatic prostate cancer

It should be remembered that extracellular vesicles secreted by tumor cells into the bloodstream contain tumor-derived material that can be used as a biomarker of response and/or resistance to treatment in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. In this work, the authors analyzed tumor mRNA in circulating plasma vesicles for the first time. “This is a source of information about the tumor that has not been amenable to liquid biopsy until now, since mRNA is easily degraded in the blood. On the other hand, the mRNA we find in vesicles is protected and preserves information,” the researchers say based on an analysis of serial plasma samples from 53 patients with metastatic prostate cancer who received hormonal therapy or chemotherapy. The researchers analyzed circulating DNA, as well as DNA and RNA contained in extracellular vesicles. This analysis confirms that Extracellular vesicles contain genetic material derived from the tumor, information from which allows us to identify mutations.

present in tumor cells, and also to know which tumors will have the worst evolution. “In this sense, we have confirmed that we can use liquid biopsy of extracellular vesicles for the same purpose as other sources of tumor DNA that we obtain from liquid biopsy, such as circulating tumor DNA or circulating tumor cells, but with the advantage that we can also “monitor changes in genetic expression based on RNA, which shows what the tumor looks like at a given moment,” concludes Irene Casanova, research fellow in the Prostate Cancer Translational Research Group and first author of this article.