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Investigating extracellular vesicles driven pre-metastatic niche formation in prostate cancer
Approximately 1 out of 8 men worldwide will be diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) during their lifetime, making PCa the leading tumor type in male cancer patients. Localized PCa has a very high survival rate in patients. However, this survival rate sharply drops after the onset of metastasis, which is also the primary cause of mortality in PCa patients. Fascinatingly, in various tumor models, the primary tumor actively alters the microenvironment of distant organs beforehand, preparing a favorable niche for disseminated circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to graft and colonize with greater ease once they are in circulation. These hospitable microenvironments are termed pre-metastatic niches (PMNs) and are critical for overt metastasis formation. At present, PMN generation and its implications in PCa are poorly understood. Therefore, investigating how the PCa PMN unfolds will give us a deeper understanding of the biology of metastasis and lead to the discovery of novel drug targets essential for tailoring treatments for patients at higher risk of PCa metastasis and reducing tumor-related mortality.
Hence, in this project, students will aim to work on a series of in vivo experiments to help establish a preclinical model of metastasis formation in PCa. Primary work will include assistance with animal experiments (subcutaneous and intravenously injected tumors). Experience with extracellular vesicle isolation, Flow cytometry, PCRs, Simple Westerns, and CRISPR-CAS9 molecular editing will come with the project.
