Extracellular vesicles carry molecular markers for treatment response in head and neck cancer patients

• Ano de defesa: 2018
• Autor(a) principal: Rodrigues Junior, Dorival Mendes [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
• Palavras-chave em Português: Biomarkers; Head and neck cancer; Plasma; Chemioradioterapia; Tgfbeta extracellular vesicles; Biomarcadores; Câncer de cabeça e pescoço; Quimioradioterapia; Tgfbeta; Vesículas extracelulares
• Link de acesso: https://sucupira.capes.gov.br/sucupira/public/consultas/coleta/trabalhoConclusao/viewTrabalhoConclusao.jsf?popup=true&id_trabalho=6513687; https://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/53048

Approximately 30% of patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC; stage III-IV) treated with cisplatin-based chemo-radiation therapy (CRT) present incomplete response to the treatment and, up to now, there is no biomarker able to prospectively segregate these patients from those who will respond to the treatment. Non-invasive biomarkers that stratify patients according to treatment response would help to optimize the patient-specific therapeutic interventions, improve the quality of life and outcomes. The discovery of extracellular vesicles (EVs), carrying proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and sugars in various body fluids, could allow analyses of a much ‘cleaner’ compartment that may better reflect the tumor cells or its microenvironment. Based on this, the rational of this study assumed that circulating plasma EVs of locally advanced HNSCC patients might carry useful molecules to predict final CRT response. Our results indicate that TGFβ3 transmitted through EVs plays a significant role for HNSCC resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapies and high levels of this protein in plasma EVs was associated with poor prognosis. The study also identifies a list of potential markers that may contribute to the prediction of CRT response in HNSCC patients. It was also observed that plasma MLANA level appears to be an effective non-invasive biomarker for outcomes in patients treated with CRT.