Kumar Prabhat, Lakhera Rishabh, Aggarwal Sadhna, Gupta Shilpi
Stem Cell and Cancer Research Lab, Amity Institute of Molecular Medicine & Stem Cell Research (AIMMSCR), Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Sector-125, Noida 201313, India.
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Biomedicines. 2024 Aug 9;12(8):1809. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12081809.
Oral cancer (OC) presents a significant global health burden with rising incidence rates. Despite advancements in diagnosis and treatments, the survival rate for OC patients, particularly those with advanced or recurrent disease, remains low at approximately 20%. This poor prognosis is often due to a small population of cancer stem cells (CSCs) that are capable of self-renewal and immune evasion, playing pivotal roles in proliferation, tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and therapy resistance. Exosomes, which are nano-sized extracellular vesicles (EVs), have emerged as crucial mediators of cell-to-cell communication within the tumor microenvironment (TME). These vesicles carry diverse molecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids, and metabolites, influencing various cellular processes. Emerging evidence suggests that CSC-derived EVs significantly promote tumor progression and metastasis and maintain the balance between CSCs and non-CSCs, which is vital for intracellular communication within the TME of oral cancer. Recent reports indicate that oral cancer stem cell-derived EVs (OCSC-EVs) influence stemness, immune evasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, tumor reoccurrence, and drug resistance. Understanding OCSC-EVs could significantly improve oral cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. In this mini-review, we explore OCSC-derived exosomes in oral cancer, examining their potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers that reflect CSC characteristics, and delve into their therapeutic implications, emphasizing their roles in tumor progression and therapy resistance. However, despite their promising potential, several challenges remain, including the need to standardize isolation and characterization methods and to elucidate exosome-mediated mechanisms. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of OCSC-EVs could pave the way for innovative therapeutic strategies that have the potential to improve clinical outcomes for OC patients.
口腔癌（OC）在全球造成了重大的健康负担，发病率不断上升。尽管在诊断和治疗方面取得了进展，但OC患者的生存率，尤其是那些患有晚期或复发性疾病的患者，仍然很低，约为20%。这种不良预后通常归因于一小部分具有自我更新和免疫逃逸能力的癌症干细胞（CSCs），它们在增殖、肿瘤起始、进展、转移和治疗抗性中发挥着关键作用。外泌体是纳米级的细胞外囊泡（EVs），已成为肿瘤微环境（TME）中细胞间通讯的关键介质。这些囊泡携带多种分子，如DNA、RNA、蛋白质、脂质和代谢物，影响各种细胞过程。新出现的证据表明，CSC衍生的EVs显著促进肿瘤进展和转移，并维持CSCs和非CSCs之间的平衡，这对口腔癌TME内的细胞内通讯至关重要。最近的报告表明，口腔癌干细胞衍生的EVs（OCSC-EVs）影响干性、免疫逃逸、转移、血管生成、肿瘤复发和耐药性。了解OCSC-EVs可以显著改善口腔癌的诊断、预后和治疗。在这篇小型综述中，我们探讨了口腔癌中OCSC衍生的外泌体，研究它们作为反映CSC特征的诊断和预后生物标志物的潜力，并深入探讨它们的治疗意义，强调它们在肿瘤进展和治疗抗性中的作用。然而，尽管它们具有广阔的潜力，但仍存在一些挑战，包括需要标准化分离和表征方法以及阐明外泌体介导的机制。因此，对OCSC-EVs的全面理解可为创新治疗策略铺平道路，这些策略有可能改善OC患者的临床结局。
