Giulietti Matteo, Santoni Matteo, Cimadamore Alessia, Carrozza Francesco, Piva Francesco, Cheng Liang, Lopez-Beltran Antonio, Scarpelli Marina, Battelli Nicola, Montironi Rodolfo
Department of Specialistic Clinical and Odontostomatological Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Oncology Unit, Macerata Hospital, Macerata, Italy.
Front Oncol. 2018 Jun 13;8:221. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2018.00221. eCollection 2018.
Tumor microenvironment constitutes a complex network in which tumor cells communicate among them and with stromal and immune cells. It has been shown that cancer cells are able to exchange genetic materials through small extracellular vesicles (EVs), a heterogeneous group of vesicles with different size and shape, cargo content, and function. The importance to investigate populations of circulating EVs would be of great importance as prostate cancer (PCa) biomarkers. In several neoplasms as well as in PCa, nanometer-sized EVs of endosomal origin are implicated in supporting tumor growth and metastatic spread by both altering local stroma cells and creating a protumor environment that favors the formation of pre-metastatic niches. Several techniques are applicable for the isolation and analysis of PCa-derived small EVs and are illustrated in this article. Due to the high sensitivity and specificity of these techniques, small EVs have become ideal candidates for early diagnosis. Moreover, we discuss the role of small EVs during PCa carcinogenesis, as well as in modulating the development of drug resistance to hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, thus underlining the potential of EV-tailored strategies in PCa patients.
肿瘤微环境构成了一个复杂的网络，肿瘤细胞在其中相互交流，并与基质细胞和免疫细胞进行沟通。研究表明，癌细胞能够通过小细胞外囊泡（EVs）交换遗传物质，小细胞外囊泡是一组异质性的囊泡，具有不同的大小、形状、货物内容物和功能。研究循环EVs群体作为前列腺癌（PCa）生物标志物具有重要意义。在几种肿瘤以及PCa中，内体来源的纳米级EVs通过改变局部基质细胞和创造有利于前转移小生境形成的促肿瘤环境，参与支持肿瘤生长和转移扩散。本文介绍了几种适用于分离和分析PCa来源的小EVs的技术。由于这些技术具有高灵敏度和特异性，小EVs已成为早期诊断的理想候选物。此外，我们讨论了小EVs在PCa致癌过程中的作用，以及在调节对激素治疗和化疗的耐药性发展中的作用，从而强调了针对PCa患者的EV定制策略的潜力。
