Characterization of breast cancer extracellular vesicles structure and fusogenicity with membrane models

Breast cancer (BC) is the most diagnosed cancer worldwide, with its metastatic form being a primary cause of mortality. Understanding metastasis is crucial for devising effective interventions. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a pivotal role in cancer progression and metastasis but the lack of efficient and standardized isolation and characterization procedures limits their study. The proposal aims to characterize BC EVs isolated through a microfluidic approach with varying purity levels and preservation methods using X-ray scattering. The objective is to assess the impact of purification and preservation procedures on EVs, considering both structural aspects and their ability to interact with DMPC vesicles. This research aims to provide crucial insights for future investigations into the interaction of selected EVs with more complex target membranes. Ultimately, it will contribute to unraveling the mechanisms governing metastasis in BC for developing new treatment strategies.