Prostasomes as Diagnostic, Prognostic and Therapeutic Vesicles

Sammanfattning: This thesis explores prostasomes and their ability to be used as a new diagnostic tool for prostate cancer. Alongside diagnosis, this thesis also suggests prostasomes as a tool for prognosis and therapeutic treatment in patients with prostate cancer. By further characterizing prostasomes we can identify a biomarker and also a method of visualizing and interpreting the information provided in order to conduct a correct and fast diagnosis for prostate cancer.In Paper I, we show that the prostasomal bilayered membrane consists of lipid rafts, clusters that holds cholesterol, sphingolipids and gives receptors a rigid platform upon which to work. We compare the proteomic content of prostasome lipid rafts with the entire prostasome membrane in the search for a specific biomarker. In Paper II, we show that purified lipid rafts from the prostasome membrane can re-vesiculate and create new bioengineered vesicles. These new vesicles can carry different agents inside them and we find that the method is also applicable to blood cells. This suggests a new method for cell-specific delivery of drugs and cancer therapy. In Paper III, we further characterize the prostasome membrane, this time mapping purinergic receptors. This could be used in the development of prostate cancer treatment and to gain better understanding of how prostasomes interact with surrounding cells in their ambient environment.In Paper IV, we investigate the difference in thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) enzyme activity between prostasomes and malignant exosomes. TK1 is considered to be a biomarker of cell proliferation and could therefore be used as a biomarker for prostate cancer diagnosis and progression.In summary, this thesis contributes to the puzzle of how to better diagnose, prognose and treat prostate cancer. Although it is mainly pre-clinical research it opens up new possibilities for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.