Tumor-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Show Promise for Earlier Detection of Metastatic Risk

BUFFALO, NY – September 1, 2026 – A new #review was published in Volume 17 of Oncotarget on August 28, 2026, titled “Emerging biomedical imaging applications of tumor-derived extracellular vesicles for premetastatic niche detection: Biological rationale, engineering strategies, and translational challenges.”
The review was led by first author Omkar Dhaygude, who is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. Corresponding authors Franck Housseau and John Michel are affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, with Housseau also affiliated with the Cancer Research Center of Lille in France.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-enclosed particles released by cells that transport proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, metabolites, and other molecular cargo. In cancer, tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (TEVs) can influence the tumor microenvironment and distant tissues by promoting processes such as angiogenesis, extracellular matrix remodeling, inflammatory signaling, immune evasion, and stromal reprogramming.
Of particular interest is the role of TEVs in establishing premetastatic niches—biological environments in distant organs that become permissive to metastatic cells before overt tumors are detectable. TEVs can carry organ-specific molecular signals, and their surface molecules may influence which tissues they reach. For example, previous experimental research has linked the integrins α6β4 and α6β1 with lung tropism, providing a biological rationale for using TEVs to direct imaging probes toward metastasis-prone organs.
This possibility could address an important limitation of conventional cancer imaging. Computed tomography and other anatomical methods are designed primarily to detect established structural lesions, whereas premetastatic niches are characterized by earlier molecular and microenvironmental alterations. The authors therefore examine whether TEV-associated imaging could provide information about metastatic conditioning before conventional imaging can identify overt metastatic lesions.
Full press release - https://www.oncotarget.com/news/pr/tumor-derived-extracellular-vesicles-show-promise-for-earlier-detection-of-metastatic-risk/
DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28916
Correspondence to - Franck Housseau - fhousse1@jhmi.edu, and John Michel - jmiche14@jhmi.edu
Abstract video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zygNvj4_YY
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Keywords - cancer, lung metastases, cancer imaging, theranostic, premetastatic niches, extra-cellular vesicles
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