Tailoring drug treatment to the individual patient

W. Andy Tao, Purdue professor of biochemistry, and his associates are developing new applications for extracellular vesicles in routine sampling of the body’s response to prescription drug exposure. (Purdue Agricultural Communications photo/Tom Campbell)

Groundbreaking research has been done at Bindley for decades by W. Andy Tao, a Purdue biochemistry professor. 

An ongoing project involves Tao, Purdue colleagues and researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, that could lead to more effective use of prescription drugs based on the reactions of individual patients. 

Experiments have isolated drug-metabolizing enzymes from extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are widely secreted throughout the body for cellular communication. Tao and his associates have begun developing a EV method for detecting proteins involved in drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion.  

“It could allow you in the future to monitor the drug treatment and how your body responds,” he said. “You would have a better sense of potential multi-drug interactions.” 

A patent is pending for the method, which has not yet gone to human trials. 

Tao has been a Purdue faculty member since 2005 and was a Bindley Bioscience Center Fellow in 2012-13. In 2017, he won the Outstanding Commercialization Award for Purdue University faculty after discovering a method to detect and monitor breast cancer using a simple blood test and bladder cancer using a urine test. 

Tao praised Bindley as “a platform for interdisciplinary research.” While it fosters cutting-edge science, “at the same time we provide a high-quality service to the whole campus,” as well as to researchers in industry.