Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women's Health, University of Louisville School of Medicine Louisville, KY, USA.
Front Genet. 2013 Jul 30;4:142. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2013.00142. eCollection 2013.
We have previously demonstrated that tumor cells release membranous structures into their extracellular environment, which are termed exosomes, microvesicles or extracellular vesicles depending on specific characteristics, including size, composition and biogenesis pathway. These cell-derived vesicles can exhibit an array of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids derived from the originating tumor. This review focuses of the transcriptome (RNA) of these extracellular vesicles. Based on current data, these vesicular components play essential roles as conveyers of intercellular communication and mediators of many of the pathological conditions associated with cancer development, progression and therapeutic failures. These extracellular vesicles express components responsible for angiogenesis promotion, stromal remodeling, signal pathway activation through growth factor/receptor transfer, chemoresistance, and genetic exchange. These tumor-derived extracellular vesicles not only to represent a central mediator of the tumor microenvironment, but their presence in the peripheral circulation may serve as a surrogate for tumor biopsies, enabling real-time diagnosis and disease monitoring.
我们之前已经证明，肿瘤细胞会将膜状结构释放到细胞外环境中，这些结构根据其特定的特征（包括大小、组成和生物发生途径）被称为外泌体、微泡或细胞外囊泡。这些源自肿瘤的细胞衍生囊泡可以表现出一系列蛋白质、脂质和核酸。这篇综述重点关注这些细胞外囊泡的转录组（RNA）。根据目前的数据，这些囊泡成分作为细胞间通讯的载体和与癌症发展、进展和治疗失败相关的许多病理状况的介质发挥着重要作用。这些细胞外囊泡表达的成分负责促进血管生成、基质重塑、通过生长因子/受体转移激活信号通路、化学抗性和遗传交换。这些源自肿瘤的细胞外囊泡不仅代表了肿瘤微环境的主要介质，而且它们在外周循环中的存在可以作为肿瘤活检的替代物，实现实时诊断和疾病监测。
