Abstract
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is among the most devastating digestive tract cancers worldwide. This cancer is characterized by poor diagnostic detection, lack of therapy, and difficulty in predicting tumorigenesis progression. Although mutations of key oncogenes and oncosuppressor involved in tumor growth and in immunosurveillance escape are known, the underlying mechanisms that orchestrate PC initiation and progression are poorly understood or still under debate. In recent years, the attention of many researchers has been concentrated on the role of extracellular vesicles and of a particular subset of extracellular vesicles, known as exosomes. Literature data report that these nanovesicles are able to deliver their cargos to recipient cells playing key roles in the pathogenesis and progression of many pancreatic precancerous conditions. In this review, we have summarized and discussed principal cargos of extracellular vesicles characterized in PC, such as miRNAs, lncRNAs, and several proteins, to offer a systematic overview of their function in PC progression. The study of extracellular vesicles is allowing to understand that investigation of their secretion and analysis of their content might represent a new and potential diagnostic and prognostic tools for PC.
Highlights
Pancreatic cancer (PC), in all forms, is among the most common and devastating digestive tract cancers worldwide
extracellular vesicles (EVs) originated from pancreatic cancer (PC) cells different functional biomolecules, such as micro RNAs, long noncoding RNAs, and several proteins
It was demonstrated that cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) treatment with calcitriol, vitamin D active type is able to induce signaling mediated by vitamin D receptor (VDR) and consequent downregulation of miR-10a-5p in EVs from CAFs and in EV-recipient PC cells [149]
Summary
Pancreatic cancer (PC), in all forms, is among the most common and devastating digestive tract cancers worldwide. The activation of various signaling pathways in target cells may be modulated by EVs, playing key roles in the pathogenesis and progression of several pancreatic precancerous conditions [19,20]. These EVs are implicated in the transformation of various precancerous lesions into PC and in the progression of PC toward more invasive and metastasizing forms through the activation of mechanisms of angiogenesis, cell migration, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), and apoptotic resistance [21]. We focused on cargo molecules of EVs, such as micro RNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), Cells 2021, 10, 1361 proteins, and inflammatory cytokines, to highlight the relevance of EVs in the diagnosis and prognostication of PC
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