Abstract
Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies and the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Although many factors associated with breast cancer have been identified, the definite etiology of breast cancer is still unclear. In addition, early diagnosis of breast cancer remains challenging. Exosomes are membrane-bound nanovesicles secreted by most types of cells and contain a series of biologically important molecules, such as lipids, proteins, and miRNAs, etc. Emerging evidence shows that exosomes can affect the status of cells by transmitting substances and messages among cells and are involved in various physiological and pathological processes. In breast cancer, exosomes play a significant role in breast tumorigenesis and progression through transfer miRNAs which can be potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of breast cancer. This review discusses the potential utility of exosomal miRNAs in breast cancer progression such as tumorigenesis, metastasis, immune regulation and drug resistance, and further in breast cancer diagnosis.
Highlights
Breast cancer has been the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, with an estimated 2.3 million new cases (11.7%) in 2020
Wang et al [51] studied the lymph node metastasis of breast cancer. They identified exosomal miRNAs from plasma of breast cancer patients with/without lymph node metastasis and found miR-363-5p, which was significantly downregulated in lymph node-positive patients, could modulate platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling activity by targeting PDGFB, inhibiting breast cancer cell proliferation and migration to lymph node
Exosomal miRNAs play an important role in the diagnosis of breast cancer
Summary
Breast cancer has been the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide, with an estimated 2.3 million new cases (11.7%) in 2020. Diagnosis and the control of tumor procession are of great importance for the mortality of breast cancer patients. Liquid biopsy including exosomes [9], circulating tumor cells (CTCs) [10], and circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acids (ctDNAs) [11] has been recently proposed as a promising diagnosis method in oncology because it is less invasive and can be detected in the early stage of breast cancer without obvious focus. Since substantial evidence predicts that exosomal miRNAs are essential for breast cancer procession and can be used for diagnosis [25,26], we introduce the recent novel findings from those two aspects. For the role of exosomal miRNAs in breast cancer procession, we mainly introduce the aspects of the tumor microenvironment, tumorigenesis, invasion and migration, immune regulation, and drug resistance. Seventyeight publications met the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review
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