| Project Detail |
Increasing the potential of extracellular vesicles in precision medicine Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are key players in cell communication, involved in both normal and disease processes. Despite their potential in healthcare (particularly in drug delivery and diagnostics), progress is hindered by limited technological readiness and the absence of standardised guidelines. Current methods for EVs purification are inefficient, which restricts their application in personalised medicine. A breakthrough is needed to fully harness their capabilities in non-invasive diagnostics and targeted therapies. With the support of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme, the EXPAND-EV project aims to solve this by developing scalable, cost-effective EV purification systems. These systems will enhance cancer diagnostics for lung, breast and liver malignancies, while at the same time exploring edible plant-based EVs as carriers of therapeutic molecules. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been identified as important signaling mediators in a myriad of physiological and pathological processes. There is an emerging effort to advance the exploitation of EVs in precision healthcare, with special emphasis on drug delivery and liquid biopsy. However, the current technology readiness level in the field and lack of standardized methodology guidelines are limiting the exploitation of EVs, so a significant leap toward the establishment of novel tools has to be made. EXPAND-EV’s main goal is to provide a unique solution for advancing the current diagnostic and therapeutic potential of EVs by developing and implementing versatile, scalable, cost-effective and reproducible purification systems, based on single-domain antibody affinity technology for high-performance scalable EVs capture, in two parallel lines of research: (I) the system will be validated in clinical laboratory settings on breast (BC), liver (HC) and lung cancer (LC) by analyzing differential expression of multi -omics (proteomic, glycomic and transcriptomic) EVs-related features, with the goal to develop a panel of biomarkers that would contribute in timely diagnostics, enable a convenient and non-invasive prognosis assessment and tailored therapy. (II) development of GMP-compliant protocol for producing edible plant EVs as carriers of therapeutic siRNA molecules. Their safety profile and therapeutic potential will be tested on BC, HC and LC cell lines and mouse models. By establishing a consortium composed of excellent research groups and SMEs across Europe, EXPAND-EV will bring forth the needed paradigm shift in EVs research by solving the major bottleneck issue in the field. Creating a simple, robust, cheap, scalable and reproducible EVs purification system will provide much-needed technology for application of EVs in personalized medicine, leading the transition of EVs use from a promising laboratory concept to a feasible and applicable theranostic agent. |
