On Monday, June 20), in the first of four Featured Abstracts being presented by junior investigators during the ISEV 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting (July 20-22) (https://www.eventscribe.com/2020/ISEV/), Shima Ghoroghi (photo), from Dr. Jacky Goetz’s Laboratory for Tumor Mechanics (http://www.goetzlab.com/team/), University of Strasbourg, France, delivered abstract FA01 “Ral-GTPases Promote Metastasis by Controlling Biogenesis and Organotropism of Exosomes.” Ms. Ghoroghi joined Dr. Goetz’s group as a PhD student in 2016 to study the role of Ral-GTPases in the secretion of exosomes by tumor cells during metastasis under close supervision of Dr. Vincent Hyenne, a specialist in exosomes. In her introduction, Ms. Ghoroghi noted that exosomes are small vesicles of endosomal origin, composed of different biomolecules including RNA, lipids, and proteins, which can be taken up by distant cells and deliver a functional message. Many studies have shown that exosomes play a major role in tumor progression by mediating the communication between tumors cells and their microenvironment. The main goals of Ms. Ghoroghi’s PhD project consist in dissecting the mechanisms of exosome secretion influenced by Ral-GTPases and understanding the importance of these exosomes in metastasis. During her PhD studies, Ms. Ghoroghi found that Ral-GTPases are central molecules linking the mechanisms of exosome secretion to their capacity to disseminate and induce pre-metastatic niches. She provided a detailed dissection of the impact of the Ral-GTPases on exosome secretion levels and content. She also showed that Ral-GTPases control exosome secretion by acting on the endosomal secretion pathway through the phospholipase D1 (PLD1), which also promotes exosome secretion.Login Or Register To Read Full Story