Dr. Liya Xu from Children’s Hospital LA Awarded $70,000 Knights Templar Eye Foundation Grant for Retinoblastoma Research

Dr. Liya Xu from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was awarded $70,000 for the research entitled: Single particle analysis of extracellular vesicles in the aqueous humor of retinoblastoma eyes: moving towards an integrated liquid biopsy

Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a type of cancer that develops in the eyes of young children, most often under 2 years of age. This intraocular tumor robs the children of their sight, and in upwards of 50% cases, their eye(s).

Understanding how tumor cells communicate may help clinicians better treat them. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are plasma membrane enclosed vesicles that are produced by all cell types and act primarily in cell-to-cell communication by delivering a cargo of functional molecules (e.g. nucleic acids, proteins) to recipient cells. EVs in the aqueous humor (AH), the fluid in the front of the eye, have been implicated to control intracellular communications in other eye diseases, however, EVs have never been studied in Rb. In Dr. Xu’s preliminary studies, she has been able to show that EVs are readily detectable in unprocessed AH with a significant decrease of CD63/CD81+ EV population in treatment active Rb eyes.

This research aims to investigate the EVs in the AH on single particle level (meaning each vesicle can be studied separately) to identify the molecular and functional diversity of distinct EV subpopulations in Rb and define the correlations with clinical presentations and disease outcomes. The identification of eye cancer-specific EV subpopulation lays the groundwork for a transformed understanding of pathophysiology and treatment mechanisms in Rb. This novel biomedical research is the first step to develop disease-specific, minimally invasive methods for clinical diagnostics using EVs with improved understating of the applications of AH liquid biopsy as well as future development of new therapeutic approaches.