Abstract
P0537 - Organ-specific uptake of extracellular vesicles secreted by urological cancer cells
Highlights
The observation that malignant tumors preferentially metastasize into specific organ systems is called organotropism—a phenomenon known for a very long time in cancer biology but still incompletely understood at the molecular level
Prostate cancer affects the bone and lymph nodes in more or less all cases of metastatic disease, renal cell carcinoma most often metastasizes into the bone and brain, and urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder tends to spread to lymph nodes, bone, and lungs [1,2,3]
We examined, in detail, the organ-specific uptake of intravenously injected extracellular vesicles (EVs) from different urological cell lines but did not analyze what molecular processes these EVs induce in their target organs and whether their uptake leads to the formation of premetastatic niches and a stimulation of metastatic spread
Summary
The observation that malignant tumors preferentially metastasize into specific organ systems is called organotropism—a phenomenon known for a very long time in cancer biology but still incompletely understood at the molecular level. One long-standing and famous explanation of organotropism in cancer is the seed-and-soil hypothesis by the British surgeon and oncologist Stephen Paget [4] He compared tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream to seeds that need to find a fertile soil, i.e., a supportive microenvironment in distant organ systems that allows them to extravasate, survive, and establish new metastatic foci. Several elegant studies have been performed, which identified extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by primary tumor cells as further important players in the process of organotropic metastasis [9,10,11] They contribute to this process, for example, by inducing vascular leakiness, inhibiting anti-tumor immune response, educating stromal cells, or altering the extracellular matrix in the so-called premetastatic niches in metastatic target organs [12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
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