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EXOSOME raw materials | ABOUT EXOSOMES
The application of exosomes in cardiovascular diseases:
A reborn world full of hope
Inventor of Exosomes Patent in the United States and Taiwan-Professor Tanglong Shen
"The cancer cells have metastasized..." This is a nightmare for cancer patients and doctors, representing a more painful treatment, close to the footsteps of death. However, hope emerged.
He is Shen Tanglong, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, National Taiwan University.
International journals for sure! To predict the mechanism of cancer metastasis, Shen Tanglong and the American team have found the key to early detection of cancer metastasis after 3 years of research. In short, before cancer cells metastasize, they will release a message molecule, which is encapsulated in nano-sized exosomes, like sentinels, leading to the next organ to attack. Information molecule is a kind of protein receptor (integrin), just like GPS guiding sentinel to a specific location, such as breast cancer cell metastasis to the lungs. Shen Tanglong's team found these sentries and their mechanism of action.
This major discovery, which is different from the mainstream theory of random metastasis of cancer cells, has been published in the latest issue of the top international journal Nature, encouraging the medical community. Including Cornell University and National Taiwan University School of Medicine, the next phase of clinical trials has already begun.
"Because (metastasis) can be predicted, this will make cancer truly preventable from the current treatment, which is really life-saving!" said Wang Mingyang, the chief breast cancer surgeon at National Taiwan University.
Why is it so sensational in "Nature"? Wang Mingyang pointed out that the scientific community is also popular, and "Nature" is the top fashion magazine. It is best if you submit papers without references. You are the first to propose innovative ideas and technological innovations.
But who is Shen Tanglong? Why is this paper he signed as the first author, not from the medical school, but as a teacher at the School of Plant Pathology and Pests?
In 2004, under the aura of a PhD in Molecular Medicine at Cornell University, Shen Tanglong rejected the post-doctoral research work at Harvard University and other prestigious universities, and returned to the National Taiwan University Department of Plant Microbiology (formerly the Department of Plant Pathology and Pests), which was at a critical moment of transformation.
The research and papers he has done have always been loyal to himself and catered to the mainstream: on the one hand, it is the traditional plant pathology in the department, and on the other it is his favorite cancer cell biology.
For the latter, even in his first year at National Taiwan University, he established a long-distance cell biology course at National Taiwan University and Kyoto University with Li Xinyu of the Department of Life Sciences and Li Caikun of the Faculty of Medicine. Therefore, he got to know Xie Fengzhou.
After 3 months of retreat, I found the way and I hit it off with the US team
"Which side is my direction?" Although he started with plant research, he has always been interested in people and hopes to apply what he has learned in practice, so he invested in the field of cancer cell biology when he was in the United States.
"I have to decide where to put my research efforts!" Shen Tanglong said. In 2009, he closed for 3 months and read a lot of international journals to find a way for his future research direction.
This decision gave him the opportunity to see a paper published by the David Lyden team of Cornell Medical School in Nature in 2005, also talking about exosomes. He was tempted, "This seems very similar to what I want to do."
Therefore, in 2010, he flew to the United States to participate in an international conference where Leiden gave a speech. After the meeting, he talked to Leiden and talked about some of his thoughts on exosomes, including experimental verification methods.
When Leiden told him that his multinational team was already doing newer experiments, the ideas of both parties actually coincided with each other: "It turns out that our brains didn't lose others, but we didn't have enough resources and didn't move so fast. "Recalling his first contact with Leiden at that time, Shen Tanglong's eyes lit up.
Not just talking about it, he also started experiments after he returned to Taiwan. At the end of 2011, he sent an e-mail to Leiden, telling him some research results, and asked if he had any chance to cooperate. Unexpectedly, Leiden immediately wrote back inviting him to "sit a seat" in the laboratory.
In terms of sitting, it’s better to start. He set off for New York in August 2012 to really “do it”. However, due to regulations, it is stipulated that the time for teachers to study abroad is one year. After returning to Taiwan, he worked with his team across the sea to freeze the cancer cell lines in dry ice and send them to the United States by air three times, so that the research would not be interrupted.
The Leiden team has long known that the "soil" where cancer cells are brewing is important, and they have also discovered that the key protein receptor is the sentinel. But they don't know which type it is, and its mechanism of action. The protein receptor is exactly the subject that Shen Tanglong studied when he was a doctoral student, so he led the research. There are also 12 to 16 research elites from more than 10 nationalities who are doing experiments with him.
