# The role of tumor derived exosomes in bone metastasis of prostate cancer

> **NIH NIH F30** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $50,520

## Abstract

Project Summary:
One in seven men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) in his lifetime. While
androgen deprivation therapy has achieved considerable success as the mainstay of PCa therapy since the
1940s, castration resistance remains common and devastating. As the third leading cause of cancer-related
death in men in the United States, PCa results in over 26,000 deaths annually. Of patients who die from PCa,
90% are found to have bone metastases at autopsy. Strikingly, the five year survival rate for all PCa patients
with spread to distant sites is 29%, while the same statistic for those with bone metastases is less than 3%. Any
significant attempt to increase overall survival for patients with PCa must, therefore, be targeted to prevent, delay
or eradicate bone metastasis. Tumor-derived exosomes have recently garnered significant attention for their
potential as biomarkers, and also as mediators of pro-malignant signaling in the tumor microenvironment. Tumor
derived exosomes have been implicated in a diverse set of malignant processes including the epithelial-to-
mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, local and systemic immune suppression, and metastasis. The long term
goal of the proposed work is to study the role of prostate tumor-derived exosomes (PCa exos) in promoting bone
metastasis, and to investigate the therapeutic potential of agents capable of attenuating exosome-mediated
malignant phenotypes. Preliminary evidence indicates that PCa exos are capable of (1) robust uptake efficiency
in osteoclast precursors, (2) activation of NF-kB in a monocyte reporter line, (3) stimulating osteoclast
differentiation of bone marrow macrophages in vitro, and (4) trafficking to bone when systemically injected in
vivo in mice. Furthermore, preliminary evidence shows that a synthetic nanoparticle-based HDL mimetic (HDL
NP) is capable of inhibiting each of the four PCa exo-mediated effects stated above. Given these observations,
it is hypothesized that PCa exos play a role in promoting bone metastasis by signaling to osteoclast
precursors to stimulate bone resorption. Further, it is hypothesized that HDL NPs are capable of
reducing PCa bone metastasis by inhibiting PCa exo-mediated signaling. In the first aim of the study, we
will investigate the relationship between the osteolytic activity of PCa exos and the bone metastatic potential of
their tumor cell lines of origin. We will conduct molecular and functional studies of PCa exo-induced osteolysis
in vitro and in vivo. In the second aim, we will investigate the role of PCa exos in promoting bone metastasis in
a clinically relevant model of castrate-resistant bone metastatic PCa, assessing the impact on bone tumor
establishment and growth, and overall survival. In the third and final aim of the study, we will investigate the
potential of HDL NPs as inhibitors of PCa exo-mediated signaling in bone, and as inhibitors of skeletal metastasis
in a bone metastatic model of PCa. Thro...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9857576
- **Project number:** 5F30CA225133-03
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephen Henrich
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $50,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-02-01 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9857576

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9857576, The role of tumor derived exosomes in bone metastasis of prostate cancer (5F30CA225133-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9857576. Licensed CC0.

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