Laboratory of Glycobiology, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Avenida da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer. 2017 Aug;1868(1):157-166. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2017.03.007. Epub 2017 Mar 24.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by virtually all cells, carry cellular molecules to the extracellular environment, and may interact with other cells. They are found in body fluids, therefore, constituting useful target sources for the identification of disease biomarkers, for example, in cancer. EVs originate from the plasma membrane or from multivesicular endosomes. They have the same topology as the plasma membrane and are rich in glycoconjugates, displaying specific glycosignatures. Surface glycoconjugates play important roles in EVs biogenesis and in their interaction with other cells. Changes in glycosylation constitute a hallmark of different types of cancer, therefore, the study of glycoconjugates and glycosignatures of EVs appear as promising candidates to identify novel cancer biomarkers and to increase the specificity and sensitivity of the existing clinical biomarkers, many of which are glycosylated.
细胞外囊泡 (EVs) 几乎由所有细胞释放，将细胞分子带到细胞外环境，并可能与其他细胞相互作用。它们存在于体液中，因此是鉴定疾病生物标志物的有用目标来源，例如癌症。EVs 来源于质膜或多泡内体。它们与质膜具有相同的拓扑结构，富含糖缀合物，表现出特定的糖基化特征。表面糖缀合物在 EVs 的生物发生及其与其他细胞的相互作用中起着重要作用。糖基化的改变是不同类型癌症的标志，因此，对 EVs 中糖缀合物和糖基化特征的研究似乎是鉴定新型癌症生物标志物的有前途的候选物，并提高许多已存在的临床生物标志物的特异性和敏感性，其中许多都是糖基化的。
