Gopal Shashi K, Greening David W, Rai Alin, Chen Maoshan, Xu Rong, Shafiq Adnan, Mathias Rommel A, Zhu Hong-Jian, Simpson Richard J
Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3050, Australia.
Biochem J. 2017 Jan 1;474(1):21-45. doi: 10.1042/BCJ20160006.
Cell-cell communication is critical across an assortment of physiological and pathological processes. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent an integral facet of intercellular communication largely through the transfer of functional cargo such as proteins, messenger RNAs (mRNAs), microRNA (miRNAs), DNAs and lipids. EVs, especially exosomes and shed microvesicles, represent an important delivery medium in the tumour micro-environment through the reciprocal dissemination of signals between cancer and resident stromal cells to facilitate tumorigenesis and metastasis. An important step of the metastatic cascade is the reprogramming of cancer cells from an epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype (epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT), which is associated with increased aggressiveness, invasiveness and metastatic potential. There is now increasing evidence demonstrating that EVs released by cells undergoing EMT are reprogrammed (protein and RNA content) during this process. This review summarises current knowledge of EV-mediated functional transfer of proteins and RNA species (mRNA, miRNA, long non-coding RNA) between cells in cancer biology and the EMT process. An in-depth understanding of EVs associated with EMT, with emphasis on molecular composition (proteins and RNA species), will provide fundamental insights into cancer biology.
细胞间通讯在各种生理和病理过程中都至关重要。细胞外囊泡（EVs）是细胞间通讯不可或缺的一个方面，主要通过蛋白质、信使核糖核酸（mRNAs）、微小核糖核酸（miRNAs）、脱氧核糖核酸（DNAs）和脂质等功能性物质的传递来实现。EVs，尤其是外泌体和脱落微泡，通过癌症细胞与驻留基质细胞之间信号的相互传播，在肿瘤微环境中代表一种重要的传递介质，以促进肿瘤发生和转移。转移级联反应的一个重要步骤是癌细胞从上皮表型重编程为间充质表型（上皮-间充质转化，EMT），这与侵袭性、侵入性和转移潜能增加有关。现在有越来越多的证据表明，经历EMT的细胞释放的EVs在此过程中会被重编程（蛋白质和RNA含量）。本综述总结了癌症生物学和EMT过程中细胞间EV介导的蛋白质和RNA种类（mRNA、miRNA、长链非编码RNA）功能转移的现有知识。深入了解与EMT相关的EVs，重点是分子组成（蛋白质和RNA种类），将为癌症生物学提供基本见解。
