The role of extracellular vesicles from breast tumor cells influencing endothelial cells derived from brain microcirculation

• Grant number: 19/02774-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2019
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Vanessa Morais Freitas
• Grantee: Rafael Sussumu Yano
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In 2018, about 9 million cancer-related deaths were recorded and about 18 million new cases were diagnosed. The cancer is known as a multi-step process, which the last step in tumor progression is metastasis, a tumor spreading from a primary site to a distinct organ. This progress is aided by the formation of environments called pre-metastatic niches, whose main function is the preparation and facilitation in the survival of metastatic deposits. As one of the mediators of this process, we have the extracellular vesicles, biomolecules composed of an lipid bilayer containing proteins of transmembrane, cytosolic proteins and RNA. In the tumor environment, they are responsible for several functions, such as damaged tissue repair, inflammation, apoptosis, angiogenesis. Having a significant role in the success of tumor progression. In this way, the vesicles can be considered as a form of direct communication between the tumor and its microenvironment, influencing the behavior of the cells due to a horizontal transport of material. In view of that, in this project, we will analyze the influence of the extracellular vesicles derived from the breast tumor cells with tropism for brain, MB-231-BR, on endothelial cells from the cerebral microcirculation (HMBREC), we'll analyses the MB-231-BR's vesicles uptake by the HMBREC when comparated to HUVEC, and finally, if the treatment with vesicles causes changes on adhesion molecules expression at the endothelial cells surface.