Extracellular vesicles for precision medicine in prostate cancer-Is it ready for clinical translation?

Biofluid-based biomarker tests hold great promise for precision medicine in prostate cancer (PCa) clinical practice. Extracellular vesicles (EV) are established as intercellular messengers in cancer development with EV cargos, including protein and nucleic acids, having the potential to serve as biofluid-based biomarkers. Recent clinical studies have begun to evaluate EV-based biomarkers for PCa diagnosis, prognosis, and disease/therapy resistance monitoring. Promising results have led to PCa EV biomarker validation studies which are currently underway with the next challenge being translation to robust clinical assays. However, EV research studies generally use low throughput EV isolation methods and costly molecular profiling technologies that are not suitable for clinical assays. Here, we consider the technical hurdles in translating EV biomarker research findings into precise and cost-effective clinical biomarker assays. Novel microfluidic devices coupling EV extraction with sensitive antibody-based biomarker detection are already being explored for point-of-care applications for rapid provision in personalised medicine approaches.

Automated summary

Biofluid-based biomarker tests show promise for precision medicine in prostate cancer clinical practice. Recent studies have evaluated extracellular vesicles (EV) as potential biomarkers for various aspects of prostate cancer, leading to ongoing validation studies. The challenge now is to translate these findings into robust clinical assays using cost-effective methods. Microfluidic devices combining EV extraction and sensitive antibody-based biomarker detection are being explored for point-of-care applications in personalized medicine.