Luz Cumba García (Mayo Clinic): Decoding Brain Tumors with Extracellular Vesicles

Solid tumors, such as those in the brain, can be deadly when they expand or spread to other parts of the body. Before they spread, tumors send out molecular messages within small membranous structures known as extracellular vesicles (EVs). The proteins and small non-coding RNAs inside EVs can help tumors evade the immune system and seed new sites of growth. In this Share Your Research talk, Dr. Luz Cumba García describes her thesis research on extracellular vesicles released by aggressive brain cancers called glioblastoma. Dr. Cumba García’s work helps scientists understand the EV profiles of different glioma subtypes, as well as how the messages inside EVs help them shut off the immune system.

0:00-3:47 Introduction: The challenges of glioblastoma
3:48-5:44 Extracellular vesicles as diagnostic and treatment biomarkers
5:45-12:14 Analyzing small EVs from GBM patients
12:14-16:03 Decoding immune signals in GBM EVs
16:04-18:27 Future applications: miRNA and protein profiling
18:28 Conclusions

Speaker Biography: Dr. Luz M. Cumba García is an immunologist with 13 years of experience working at the intersection of immunology, public policy, and diplomacy. Luz is currently a policy advisor at the government relations firm Lewis-Burke, LLC, where she leverages her biomedical research background to bolster issue expertise of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Luz is a proud Puerto Rican! She recently earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Rochester, MN. Her thesis dissertation focused on analyzing small particles in the blood called “extracellular vesicles” shed from glioblastoma (GBM) brain tumors as “liquid biopsies” to predict tumor growth and monitor treatment outcome.

Brittany Anderton (iBiology): Producer
Eric Kornblum (iBiology): Videographer
Rebecca Ellsworth (iBiology): Editor
Jiefei Yuan (iBiology): Editor
Chris George (iBiology): Graphics
Maggie Hubbard (iBiology): Graphics

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[tacpreppers]

You shine Luz, just like your name :) Keep up the amazing research and God bless

[luzmilbethcumbagarcia]

Let me know if you have any questions, post them in the comments! Follow me on social media and subscribe to the iBiology channel!

[pinnacleexpress]

Do you really know what the EV profile is capable of doing though? What if the immune response inducing cytokinases missing in infected patients would only usher in inappropriate responses that would make the situation worse? For example, attracting immune cells that release superoxides to destroy bacteria walls. What if the immune system just wants to be extra sure that the wrong approach isn't taken? Is there some proof that the virus is even affecting the EV protein ratios? If it was it seems to me like the best direction to go from there is shutting down whatever it is in the virus that's creating/destroying/changing EV ratios, like how doxycycline renders proteins in bacteria unusable, and then seeing if it passively decreases tumor sizes or growth

[Dr_Sri_Harsha_Guthikonda]

hi, thank you for the nice talk. I have a small query, i am under the assumption that IL-10 and IL-13 are in general anti-inflammatory. does that seem contradictory to your hypothesis or do these cytokines have a specific role in the surveillance of GBM?