Abstract
Exosomes are extracellular vesicles with a diameter of 30-150 nm that are released by most types of cells and have been confirmed to be involved in many physical and pathological processes, especially in cell to cell communication. Compared with other vesicles, exosomes have a unique double-layer saclike structure that allows them to be present stably in various body fluids, including blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, saliva, and serous cavity effusion. The cargoes of exosomes reflect the characteristics of host cells. Due to the nature of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, heterogeneity in the bioactive substances usually exist in exosomes. In addition, exosomes can efficiently deliver cargoes to the target cells to exert pathological functions, playing important role in tumor occurrence, development, metastasis, immune regulation, and drug resistance. Previous studies have been shown that exosomes have wide applications in diagnosis and treatment of HCC. In this review, we discuss these recent findings and highlight the significant roles of exosomes in HCC, focusing on the effect and underlying mechanisms of exosomes to regulate HCC progression and the potential clinical value of exosomes as biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, and many risk factors have been confirmed to be associated with HCC
A large number of studies showed that the changes of some specific molecules in exosomes can be used as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation for HCC patients
Angiopoietin-2 (ANGPT2) has been shown to be able to destroy vascular stability to promote cancer angiogenesis and the level of ANGPT2 is closely related to the development and prognosis of HCC, the HCC-derived exosomal ANGPT2 increased the tubule formation, migration and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) leading to enhanced angiogenesis of HUVECs in vitro [64]
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, and many risk factors have been confirmed to be associated with HCC. Tumor vascular endothelial cells are regulated by a variety of cytokines secreted by tumor cells and exosomes are largely involved in modulating the interactions between HCC and endothelial cells through transfering some biological molecules such as miRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs. It has been shown that miR-210 in HCC-secreted exosomes stimulates tube formation in endothelial cells by targeting SMAD4 (SMAD Family Member 4) and STAT6 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 6) [43].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
