Division of Cancer Biology and Therapeutics, Departments of Surgery, Biomedical Sciences and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA.
Experimental Pharmacology Unit, Department of Research, IRCCS-Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione G. Pascale, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2016 Feb 6;17(2):175. doi: 10.3390/ijms17020175.
Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) have received considerable attention in recent years, both as mediators of intercellular communication pathways that lead to tumor progression, and as potential sources for discovery of novel cancer biomarkers. For many years, research on EVs has mainly investigated either the mechanism of biogenesis and cargo selection and incorporation, or the methods of EV isolation from available body fluids for biomarker discovery. Recent studies have highlighted the existence of different populations of cancer-derived EVs, with distinct molecular cargo, thus pointing to the possibility that the various EV populations might play diverse roles in cancer and that this does not happen randomly. However, data attributing cancer specific intercellular functions to given populations of EVs are still limited. A deeper functional, biochemical and molecular characterization of the various EV classes might identify more selective clinical markers, and significantly advance our knowledge of the pathogenesis and disease progression of many cancer types.
近年来，细胞外囊泡（EVs）受到了广泛关注，它们既是导致肿瘤进展的细胞间通讯途径的介质，也是发现新型癌症生物标志物的潜在来源。多年来，EV 的研究主要集中在生物发生和货物选择与掺入的机制，或者从现有体液中分离 EV 以用于生物标志物发现的方法上。最近的研究强调了不同的肿瘤衍生 EV 群体的存在，具有不同的分子货物，从而指出各种 EV 群体可能在癌症中发挥不同的作用，而这并非随机发生的。然而，将特定于癌症的细胞间功能归因于特定的 EV 群体的数据仍然有限。对各种 EV 类别的更深入的功能、生化和分子特征分析可能会确定更具选择性的临床标志物，并显著提高我们对许多癌症类型的发病机制和疾病进展的认识。
