A more recent interest has been exploring extracellular vesicles (EVs) in cancer. Cancer cells secrete more EVs than normal cells. EVs can circulate everywhere in the body and so EVs in the blood can tell us something about a cancer located elsewehere in the body. This is a type of liquid biopsy.

We are interested in using EVs as a biomarker in solid tumors and for detection of residual disease in blood tumors.

This research has been funded by the Janeway Children's Hospital Research Foundation.

Longjohn MN, Hudson JBJ, Peña-Castillo L, Cormier RPJ, Hannay B, Chacko S, Lewis SM, Moorehead PC, Christian SL. (2023) Extracellular vesicle small RNA cargo discriminates non-cancer donors from pediatric B-lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Front Oncol. 2023 Nov 13;13:1272883. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1272883.

Longjohn MN, Hudson JBJ, Smith NC, Rise ML, Moorehead PC, and Christian SL (2021) Deciphering the messages carried by extracellular vesicles in hematological malignancies. Blood Reviews. 46:100734. (Invited Review)