# Exosomal RNA: A Novel Signature Guide for Prostate Cancer Proton Therapy

> **NIH NIH P20** · HAMPTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $85,161

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
Proton therapy (PT) is a form of radiation therapy used to treat prostate cancer patients that can be an
alternative to surgery. While PT is thought to risk less toxicity than conventional radiation therapy, much about
PT is still not understood. To help serve their local area of tidewater Virginia, which has one of the highest
rates of prostate cancer in the world, especially in African-Americans, Hampton University (HU), a Historically
Black University, has opened the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute. To help build the research
capacity at HU, leveraging their clinical expertise in proton therapy, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai (ISMMS) and HU propose this joint project aimed at developing a noninvasive biomarker for response to
PT. The team at ISMMS will bring their expertise in genomics and exosome profiling, a noninvasive way to
measure particles that are thought to shed from the tumor, to this project and in the process help build the
research capacity at HU. The research goal of this project is to determine changes in the exosomal RNA
(exoRNA) profile of exosomes taken from prostate cancer patients before and after radiotherapy with PT. All
aims of the study use patient samples collected at the HUPTI by the HU team. In aim 1, we will ask if an
exosomal signature of radical prostatectomy shows similar changes before and after PT. In aim 2, to
determine if there are specific changes in the mRNA profile in response to PT, we will globally profile RNA
isolated from exosomes before and after PT. In aim 3, to continue to build this project in preparation for a
future collaborative R01 submission, we will recruit additional patients from HUPTI to this study and obtain
blood specimens before, during, and after PT. At the end of the study time period, our scientific achievement
will have been to determine what changes in the RNA profile of exosomes can be observed in response to PT.
This will be important preliminary data demonstrating the utility of exosomes for noninvasive monitoring of PT.
More importantly, through this collaborative partnership between ISMMS and HU, we will have enhanced the
research infrastructure of HU in a way that will allow HU to pursue further research both jointly with ISMMS and
independently building on their clinical expertise in proton therapy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10925185
- **Project number:** 5P20CA264075-04
- **Recipient organization:** HAMPTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Simone Olivia Heyliger
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $85,161
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-22 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10925185

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10925185, Exosomal RNA: A Novel Signature Guide for Prostate Cancer Proton Therapy (5P20CA264075-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10925185. Licensed CC0.

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