Oscar Wiklander

In oncology, precision medicine has gained tremendous attention in recent years with the hope to tailor treatments to specific disease driving alterations to improve treatment efficacy and reduce side effects. The need of improved diagnostic tools to identify these specific alterations has also spurred an intense development of various omics to pinpoint relevant biomarkers. Despite intense research, there is still a great need for improved tissue specific targeted drugs and improved diagnostics. The hypothesis of this proposal is that cell secreted exosomes (Exo) could be utilized as therapeutic targetable vectors and as improved cancer biomarkers. The aim is to engineer Exo as tailored targeted therapy and to explore circulating tumor Exo (tExo), acting as a fingerprint of the cancer and its current status, as improved biomarkers for early detection of relapsing cancer. The main objective of this project is to improve cancer care, building on current techniques and therapies, by using Exo as a therapeutic and diagnostic platform.