A preliminary investigation of circulating extracellular vesicles and biomarker discovery associated with treatment response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Background There is a paucity of plasma-based biomarkers that prospectively segregate the outcome of patients with head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with chemoradiation therapy (CRT). Plasma extracellular vesicles (EVs) might be an alternative source for discovery of new specific markers present in patients with HNSCC, which could help to re-direct patients to appropriate curative therapies without delay. Methods In order to identify new markers in plasma compartments, Cholerae toxin B chain (CTB) and Annexin V (AV) were used to isolate EVs from pooled plasma samples from patients with locally advanced HNSCC who responded (CR, n = 6) or presented incomplete response (NR, n = 6) to CRT. The crude plasma and EVs cargo were screened by antibody array. Results Of the 370 polypeptides detected, 119 proteins were specific to NR patients while 38 were exclusive of the CR subjects. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) database analysis indicated that the content of circulating plasma EVs might have a relevant function for the tumor intercellular communication in the HNSCC patients. Conclusion This study provides a list of potential markers present in plasma compartments that might contribute to the development of tools for prediction and assessment of CRT response and potentially guide therapeutic decisions in this context. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-019-5565-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Circulating extracellular vesicles are effective biomarkers for predicting response to cancer therapy

“…However, the roles of the miRNAs mentioned above have not been validated due to lack of plasma samples [41]. In addition, it was identified that hsa-miR-125b-5p, as a T-cell suppressor, had an [86] increasing trend in the PD group at baseline and was significantly decreased in plasma EVs of PR patients after treatments [41]. It is thought that down-regulation of hsa-miR-125b-5p in EVs during treatment may imply an increased T-cell function of patients and a favourable response to immunotherapy [41].…”

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“…The subsequent validation of EV proteins obtained from media supernatant in clinical samples demonstrated the ability of the organoid platform to enable the identification of cancer biomarkers for PDAC patients. Moreover, recent evidences suggest EVs potential role in early disease detection (Melo et al, 2015) and prediction of response to treatment (Ciravolo et al, 2012;Wei et al, 2014;Rodrigues-Junior et al, 2019). The ability to enter other cells and deliver a functional cargo, even at distant sites, without inducing toxicity makes them good therapeutic agents vehicles (Ferguson and Nguyen, 2016).…”

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