Abstract
The study of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in cancer progression is a complex and rapidly evolving field. Whole categories of cellular interactions in cancer which were originally presumed to be due solely to soluble secreted molecules have now evolved to include membrane-enclosed extracellular vesicles (EVs), which include both exosomes and shed microvesicles (MVs), and can contain many of the same molecules as those secreted in soluble form but many different molecules as well. EVs released by cancer cells can transfer mRNA, miRNA, and proteins to different recipient cells within the tumor microenvironment, in both an autocrine and paracrine manner, causing a significant impact on signaling pathways, mRNA transcription, and protein expression. The transfer of EVs to target cells, in turn, supports cancer growth, immunosuppression, and metastasis formation. This review focuses exclusively on breast cancer EVs with an emphasis on breast cancer-derived exosomes, keeping in mind that breast cancer-derived EVs share some common physical properties with EVs of other cancers.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer in women [1]
Treatment of BT474 cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and heregulin (HRG), which are growth factors secreted by cancer cells [115,116,117] and activators of HER2 [118, 119], caused a significant increase in exosome production [40], leading to the possibility that enhanced secretion of exosomes may be a way for the tumor microenvironment to support cancer growth in the presence of therapeutic agents
There were more nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts and larger resonance intensity ratios associated with MCF-7-derived MVs compared to MDAMB-231-derived MVs upon association with human beta-defensin 6 (hBD6), which indicated stronger binding to the MCF-7-derived MVs [141]
Summary
Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer in women [1]. a multitude of treatment options are available [2,3,4], approximately one-third of women worldwide diagnosed with breast cancer still die from the disease, largely from metastasis, especially brain metastasis [5,6,7,8]. EVs, including exosomes and MVs, are secreted in large quantities by cancer cells into the local microenvironment and premetastatic “niche” [9]. Some size overlap does exist, [25,26,27,28,29] Apoptotic bodies, another type of EV, are poorly characterized and not generally included within the general categories of exosomes or MVs and will not be discussed in this review. This review will discuss breast cancer EV purification, composition, and effect on target cells within the tumor microenvironment to promote cancer growth and metastasis, as well as their possible use as drug delivery vehicles of anticancer therapeutic drugs
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