Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) 2 articles published in JoVE Medicine Exosomal miRNA Analysis in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients' Plasma Through qPCR: A Feasible Liquid Biopsy Tool Marco Giallombardo*1,2, Jorge Chacártegui Borrás*2,3, Marta Castiglia4, Nele Van Der Steen3, Inge Mertens5,6, Patrick Pauwels7,3, Marc Peeters8,3, Christian Rolfo2,3 1Department of Biopathology and Medical Biotechnology, Section of Biology and Genetics, University of Palermo, 2Phase I-Early Clinical Trials Unit, Oncology Department, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), 3Center for Oncological Research (CORE), Antwerp University, 4Department of Surgical, Oncological and Oral Sciences, Section of Medical Oncology, University of Palermo, 5Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 6CORE, Campus Groenenborger, Antwerp University, 7Molecular Pathology, Pathology Department, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), 8Oncology Department, Antwerp University Hospital (UZA) This protocol describes the feasibility to perform miRNA profiling in exosomes, released in plasma of NSCLC patients, through a commercial exosome isolation kit with Proteinase K and RNAse treatments, in order to avoid circulating miRNAs contamination and evaluate their biomarker features in NSCLC. Medicine Fundus Photography as a Convenient Tool to Study Microvascular Responses to Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Epidemiological Studies Patrick De Boever1,2, Tijs Louwies1,2, Eline Provost1,2, Luc Int Panis1,3, Tim S. Nawrot2,4 1Environmental Risk and Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), 2Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, 3Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, 4Department of Public Health, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Leuven University Retinal image analysis is an unobtrusive procedure for visualizing the microcirculation. The impact of cardiovascular disease risk factors can result in changes of retinal vessel calibers. The procedures to acquire fundus images and the steps for calculating the vessel calibers are described.
