Translational Extracellular Vesicles in Obstetrics and Gynae-Oncology Group

Our vision is to accelerate an Extracellular Vesicle research program on the utility of blood-based biomarkers to benefit obstetrics and gynaecological cancer patients, clinicians, and healthcare providers.

About

The Translational Extracellular Vesicles in Obstetrics and Gynae-Oncology Group, led by Associate Professor Carlos Salomon, focuses on research regarding extracellular vesicles (EVs) – small secretions from a wide range of cells, including placental and cancer cells. The lab has been studying EVs and their role within the production of new living organisms, such as pregnancy and cancer.

The past decade has observed an extraordinary explosion of research in the field of EVs. As the content of EV is cell-type specific, it is believed that it is a 'fingerprint' of the cell and its metabolic status.

The lab explores the idea that the EVs and their specific EV content (e.g. miRNAs and proteins) represent a precious biomedical tool, and may be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of a wide range of diseases including complication of pregnancies and malignant tumors.

EVs may engage in paracellular interactions (local cell-to-cell communication between the cells) and/or distal interactions (involving the release of EVs into biological fluids and transported to a remote site of action). The mechanisms involved in these phenomenon remain unclear, but the aim of the Translational Extracellular Vesicles in Obstetrics and Gynae-Oncology Group, is to analyse the role of EVs in the production of placental cells and tumor cells.

Contact

+61 7 3346 5418

c.salomongallo@uq.edu.au

Salomon group

Quality management system

Associate Professor Salomon contributed to establishing a Quality Management System (QMS) within the Centre for Clinical Diagnostics (CCD), University of Queensland (UQ). He had a leadership role in implementing an ISO17025 QMS and securing NATA accreditation. Within the Centre, I established the formed Exosome Biology Laboratory, and now the Translational Extracellular Vesicles in Obstetrics and Gynae-Oncology Group to evaluate the clinical utility of extracellular vesicles as liquid biopsies, IVDs, and therapeutics. Much of his effort in this field has involved optimising isolation methods for extracellular vesicles and their analytical analysis – including the use of protein solution array (e.g., Luminex), mass spectrometry profiling (using MS/MS SWATH), and more recently miRNA analysis. Implementation of QMS in an academic environment ensures alignment of all activities with regulatory requirements for the development and delivery of medical devices to market. His UQ-based team has pioneered the development of EV genomic and protein biomarkers of disease that provide new opportunities to increase diagnostic performance – work conducted within UQCCR’s NATA-accredited facility that is compliant with international standards for the development and implementation of IVDs.

The ovarian cancer early detection alliance

One of the most significant contributions of my research program in the last 2 years has been the development of a test of early detection of ovarian cancer, OCRF-7, that displayed a classification efficiency of 98%. Based on these data, we successfully secured funding from two Medical Research Future Funding (MRFF) initiatives for a total of $4 million, and in both applications, the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) is the partner organisation.

While the commercial pathway for developing a fit-for-purpose earlier detection test for ovarian cancer has proven to be extremely challenging, what is incontrovertible is that a global, collaborative (i.e, Prof. Usha Menon from The United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS)), and multidisciplinary approach will be required to develop and deliver such a test. To achieve this goal, Associate Professor Salomon has built a strategic alliance with the OCRF, LMRF, government (MRFF, NHMRC), industry, and national and international clinical key opinion leaders (KOLs) to:

Access a large cohort of prospectively collected appropriately-curated clinical samples;
Novel technological approaches to identify biomarkers of early-stage ovarian cancer;
A translational research facility compliant with regulatory-agency standards for the development of in vitro diagnostics (IVDs);
Advanced data mining and modelling expertise to develop robust multi-biomarker algorithms to deliver greater diagnostic accuracy;
Engagement of KOLs in the development and implementation of a new test;
Community educators and advocates; and
Commercialisation and distribution partners.

Moreover, a commercial partnership with ASX-listed company INOVIQ Ltd is providing access to novel technology platforms for EV biomarker discovery and future marketing and distribution opportunities.

The Ovarian Cancer Early Detection Alliance seeks to deliver the analytical and clinical performance data required by the TGA (and FDA) to advance the OCFR-7 test in a clinically feasible pathway to implementation to increase the survival rate of over 2000 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Australia annually. In collaboration with UniQuest and INOVIQ LTDA, when commercially available, the test will be distributed to major markets worldwide including USA, Europe, and Asia.

Media

Lion Medical Research Foundation
Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation
PerkinElmer, Inc.
INOVIQ Ltd
The Donald and Joan Wilson Foundation

Group Leader

Professor Carlos Salomon Gallo

NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Affiliate Professor of School of Biomedical Sciences

School of Biomedical Sciences

Theme Leaders

Dr Andrew Lai

Proteomics Theme Leader
Research Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Dr Dominic Guanzon

Genomics Theme Leader
Research Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Dr Soumyalekshmi Nair

Therapeutics Theme Leader
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Support staff

Dr Shayna Sharma

Casual Research Officer

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Dr Priyakshi Kalita de Croft

Honorary Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Miss Katherin Scholz Romero

Research Assistant

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Miss Lily Kessling

Research/Laboratory Assistant

UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Students

Shikha Rani

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Nihar Godbole

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Angel Nilesh D’Crus

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Aayushi Ghodasara

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Azad Hossain

PhD student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Pragati Lodha

Masters student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Pranav Girish Banvi

Masters student

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Anas Emerizal

Honours students

UQ Centre for Clinical Research

Visiting academics

Associate Professor Suzette Sørensen

Visiting Academic

North Denmark Regional Hospital, Denmark
Melissa Razo

Visiting PhD student

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico

We have multiple projects available for students associated with Obstetrics and Gynae-Oncology.

Obstetrics

The foundations of health throughout life are laid down during fetal development. Complications of pregnancy that compromise fetal development have profound effects not only on the immediate outcomes of pregnancy but also on the life-long disease risk susceptibility of the offspring. Around 300,000 babies are born in Australia each year. The growth and development of more than 45,000 of these babies is compromised by complications of pregnancy. Complications of pregnancy, such as: pregnancy-induced maternal high-blood pressure (preeclampsia, PE); pregnancy-induced diabetes (gestational diabetes mellitus, GDM); small for gestational age (intrauterine growth restriction, IUGR), stillbirth and preterm birth (delivery before 32 completed weeks of pregnancy, PTB) result in significant adverse health outcomes for the newborn; an increased short term risk of mortality and morbidity and an increased life time risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. In most cases, poor pregnancy outcome is not anticipated or diagnosed early enough to significantly change health outcomes. Currently available tests are either not of sufficient accuracy for screening the general obstetric population or lack sufficient evidence-based data to define clinical utility and justify implementation into standard practice. We have strong biomarker and therapeutic program focussed on extracellular vesicles for a wide range of complication of pregnancies.

Gynaecological cancers – Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most diagnosed gynecological cancers in women. Due to the lack of effective early stage screening, women are more often diagnosed at an advanced stage; therefore, it is associated with poor patient outcomes. There are a lack of tools to identify patients at the highest risk of developing this cancer. Moreover, early detection strategies, therapeutic approaches, and real-time monitoring of responses to treatment to improve survival and quality of life are also inadequate. Tumor development and progression are dependent upon cell-to-cell communication, allowing cancer cells to re-program cells not only within the surrounding tumor microenvironment, but also at distant sites. Recent studies established that extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate bi-directional communication between normal and cancerous cells. EVs are highly stable membrane vesicles that are released from a wide range of cells, including healthy and cancer cells. They contain tissue-specific signaling molecules (e.g., proteins and miRNA) and, once released, regulate target cell phenotypes, inducing a pro-tumorigenic and immunosuppressive phenotype to contribute to tumor growth and metastasis as well as proximal and distal cell function. Thus, EVs are a "fingerprint" of their cell of origin and reflect the metabolic status. Additionally, via the capacity to evade the immune system and remain stable over long periods in circulation, EVs can be potent therapeutic agents.