Abstract
Exosomes are small membranous vesicles that contain proteins, lipids, genetic material, and metabolites with abundant information from parental cells. Exosomes carry and deliver bioactive contents that can reprogram the functions of recipient cells and modulate the tumor microenvironment to induce pathological events through cell-to-cell communication and signal transduction. Tumor-derived exosomes (TDEs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are involved in most aspects of cancer initiation, invasion, progression, immunoregulation, therapeutic applications, and treatment resistance. In addition, HNSCC-derived exosomes can be used to obtain information on diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in circulating blood and saliva. Currently, the biology, mechanisms, and applications of TDEs in HNSCC are still unclear, and further research is required. In this review, we discuss various aspects of exosome biology, including exosomal components, exosomal biomarkers, and molecular mechanisms involved in immunoregulation, cancer metastasis, and therapy resistance. We also describe recent applications to update our understanding of exosomes in HNSCC.
Highlights
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is one of the most widespread malignancies worldwide
Another study showed that exosomal nuclear factor-κB-activating kinaseassociated protein 1 (NAP1) derived from oral cancer promotes the cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells via activation of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF-3) signaling pathway in recipient cells [16]
Exosomal miRNAs are associated with a variety of pathological activities, including tumorigenesis, invasion, progression, angiogenesis, metastasis, FIGURE 1 | A schematic representation of biogenesis and components of the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)-derived exosomes
Summary
Cheng Xiao 1, Fang Song 2, Yu Long Zheng 1, Jiong Lv 3, Qiang Feng Wang 1 and Nong Xu 1*. Exosomes are small membranous vesicles that contain proteins, lipids, genetic material, and metabolites with abundant information from parental cells. Tumor-derived exosomes (TDEs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are involved in most aspects of cancer initiation, invasion, progression, immunoregulation, therapeutic applications, and treatment resistance. HNSCC-derived exosomes can be used to obtain information on diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers in circulating blood and saliva. The biology, mechanisms, and applications of TDEs in HNSCC are still unclear, and further research is required. We discuss various aspects of exosome biology, including exosomal components, exosomal biomarkers, and molecular mechanisms involved in immunoregulation, cancer metastasis, and therapy resistance. We describe recent applications to update our understanding of exosomes in HNSCC
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