Ten groups that study exosomes in Spain have created the Network of Excellence in Research and Innovation in Exosomes (REDIEX), an initiative funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), that will help to advance the development of personalized medicine.
Exosomes are cellular vesicles found in almost all body fluids. Although they were virtually unknown until recently, they have a very important role in the transfer of information and molecules between the body’s cells. In this way, they participate in the regulation of various physiological and pathological processes. They are also selective carriers of biomarkers for certain diseases.
"Exosomes are gaining prominence among researchers because of their great potential in the field of health. More and more groups think that studying them could reinforce diagnostic methods in biomedicine," says Mar Valés Gómez, CNB-CSIC researcher and member of the new network.
Her laboratory studies exosomes as vehicles that transport signals to govern the immune system. They have identified molecules that form part of these vesicles and affect the immune response to tumors. "We are also working to develop technological tools that facilitate detection of exosomes in biological samples and aid in clinical evaluation," indicates Valés Gómez.
A step toward personalized medicine
"These vesicles have great potential in the diagnosis and development of new therapeutic strategies in cancer and other diseases, including parasitic infections," says Hernando del Portillo, REDIEX coordinator and ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Global Health in Barcelona (ISGlobal) and the Germans Trias i Pujol Health Sciences Research Institute. "Exosomes have opened the door to the medicine of the future, which will be totally personalized," he explains.
REDIEX was founded to promote scientific interactions, staff mobility between laboratories, and to optimize and attract funding for the study of these vesicles. The new network will develop and unify methods to accelerate the identification and development of biomarkers and non-invasive alternative control strategies for diseases such as cancer or parasitic infections. In fact, a first exosome-associated biomarker has already been identified in pancreatic cancer and tumor-derived exosomes were found to be directly involved in metastasis, which could be used to predict which tissue will suffer this malignant process.
"This network will start a new chapter in biomedical research in Spain in a field considered a frontier in clinical research," explains its coordinator. The network is an approach to personalized medicine in the search for finding products with impact that generate economic benefits and lead to greater equity in global health.