Abstract
Exosomes are important intercellular communication vehicles, secreted into body fluids by multiple cell types, including tumor cells. They contribute to the metastatic progression of tumor cells through paracrine signalling. It has been recently discovered that blood circulating exosomes contain distinguishable fractions of free and cell-surface-associated vesicles. We evaluated the influence of protein cargoes from exosomes from plasma, and exosomes from the total blood of healthy females (HFs) and breast cancer patients (BCPs), on cell motility. We conducted a mass spectrometric analysis of exosomal contents isolated from samples using ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation approaches and verified their nature using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis and flow cytometry. We observed that malignant neoplasm-associated proteins in exosomes from BCP total blood were detected more often than in plasma (66% vs. 59%). FunRich analysis to assess Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment revealed that proteins with catalytic activities, transporter functions and protein metabolism activities were increased in exosomes from BCP blood. Finally, GO analysis revealed that proteomic profiles of exosomes from HF total blood were enriched with proteins inhibiting cell migration and invasion, which explains the low stimulating activity of exosomes from HF total blood on SKBR-3 cancer cell migration velocity. This allows exosomes to act as intermediaries providing intercellular communications through horizontal transfer of RNA and functionally active proteins, potentially affecting the development of both primary neoplasms and distant metastases.
Highlights
Exosomes are small (30–100 nm) membrane vesicles released into the extracellular environment after the fusion of multivesicular bodies with the plasma membrane [1]
When exosomes circulate in the blood, they are in contact with blood cells, and after such interactions with cell plasma membranes, some do not undergo immediate membrane fusion/internalization but remain at the cell surface as cell-associated vesicles for some time
We showed that protein cargoes in exosomes from plasma and total blood of healthy females (HFs) and breast cancer patients (BCPs) correlated with redistribution between cell-free and cell-associated fractions of exosomes, and with alterations in the motility characteristics of certain cells
Summary
Exosomes are small (30–100 nm) membrane vesicles released into the extracellular environment after the fusion of multivesicular bodies with the plasma membrane [1]. Secreted cancer cell exosomes are carried through the blood and lymph circulation and may be detected far away from parental cells [2]. These vesicular structures are highly stable and are small enough to penetrate into and interact with different tissues. When exosomes circulate in the blood, they are in contact with blood cells, and after such interactions with cell plasma membranes, some do not undergo immediate membrane fusion/internalization but remain at the cell surface as cell-associated vesicles for some time. We demonstrated that miRNA and proteins from blood cell-bound exosomes represented valuable sources of materials for cancer diagnostics [11,12]
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