Abstract
In recent years, the study of extracellular vesicles has been booming across various industries. Extracellular vesicles are considered one of the most important physiological endogenous carriers for the specific delivery of molecular information (nucleonic acid, cytokines, enzymes, etc.) between cells. It has been discovered that they perform a critical role in promoting tumor cell growth, proliferation, tumor cell invasion, and metastatic ability and regulating the tumor microenvironment to promote tumor cell communication and metastasis. In this review, we will discuss (1) the mechanism of extracellular vesicles generation, (2) their role in tumorigenesis and cancer progression (cell growth and proliferation, tumor microenvironment, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, and metastasis), (3) the role of extracellular vesicles in immune therapy, (4) extracellular vesicles targeting in tumor therapy, and (5) the role of extracellular vesicles as biomarkers. It is our hope that better knowledge and understanding of the extracellular vesicles will offer a wider range of effective therapeutic targets for experimental tumor research.
Highlights
Extracellular vesicles are small membrane vesicles (30–150 nm in diameter) of endocytic origin that are formed through the fusion of the plasma membrane with multivesicular endosomes (MVEs), and subsequently exocytosed [1]
If we downregulate integrin α6β4 and integrin αVβ5 expression, it could prevent lung and liver cancer metastasis (Figure 1). This indicates that extracellular vesicles membrane integrins play a key role in selective organ metastasis. This study provides another measure for the prediction and treatment of metastatic cancers and further supports the “seed and soil” theory of cancer metastasis, with extracellular vesicles functioning as the “seed.”
When epithelial ovarian carcinoma- (EOC-) derived extracellular vesicles were added into the coculture system, the migration of endothelial cells was restored, indicating that EOC-derived exosomes play a central role in regulating the interaction between TAMs and endothelial cells
Summary
Extracellular vesicles are small membrane vesicles (30–150 nm in diameter) of endocytic origin that are formed through the fusion of the plasma membrane with multivesicular endosomes (MVEs), and subsequently exocytosed [1]. Many cell types, including dendritic cells (DCs), T cells, macrophages, B cells, mastocytes, reticulocytes, active neurons, and tumor cells, can secrete extracellular vesicles inductively or constitutively [2]. They have been found in human body fluids, such as blood and urine. Extracellular vesicles content depends on their donor cell type They can interact with stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment, which forms at sites of future metastases, to promote disseminated tumor cell survival and outgrowth and to increase tumor cell invasiveness. This review will focus on the role of extracellular vesicles in cancer progression to explore their underlying mechanism, as well as their potential role as biomarkers in tumor diagnosis and prognosis. This will hopefully provide some theoretical basis and direction to extracellular vesicles research and clinical tumor treatment
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