NWO-XS grant awarded for research on exhaled tumor vesicles

Houman Kahroba, Julian Krauskopf and Theo de Kok have been awarded an NWO-XS grant for the project “Can Exhaled Tumor Vesicles Reprogram Recipient Healthy Airway Cells?”

The project investigates whether small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) isolated from the exhaled breath of lung cancer patients can influence healthy airway cells. Although lung cancer is not contagious in the classical sense, tumor-derived vesicles may carry molecular signals that affect other cells.

Using non-invasively collected exhaled breath condensate, the researchers will test whether these vesicles can trigger early molecular warning signs in healthy airway cells compared with samples from individuals without cancer. This bold, high-risk/high-gain project may open new directions for understanding how tumor-derived signals interact with the airway environment.