TY - JOUR
T1 - Exosomes as divine messengers
T2 - Are they the Hermes of modern molecular oncology?
AU - Braicu, C.
AU - Tomuleasa, C.
AU - Monroig, P.
AU - Cucuianu, A.
AU - Berindan-Neagoe, I.
AU - Calin, G. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. Dr. Berindan-Neagoe’s work was financed by POSCCE 709/2010 grant with title: ‘Clinical and economic impact of proteome and transcriptome molecular profiling in neoadjuvant therapy of triple negative breast cancer (BREASTIMPACT)’. Dr. Calin is The Alan M Gewirtz Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar. Work in Dr. Calin’s laboratory is supported in part by the NIH/NCI grants 1UH2TR00943-01 and 1R01 CA182905-01, Developmental Research Awards in Prostate Cancer, Multiple Myeloma, Leukemia (P50 CA100632) and Head and Neck (P50 CA097007) SPOREs, a SINF MDACC_DKFZ grant in CLL, a SINF grant in colon cancer, a Kidney Cancer Pilot Project, the Duncan Family Institutional Seed Funds, The Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer-2013 Sprint for Life Research Award, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the RGK Foundation, the Estate of CG Johnson, Jr. and by the CLL Global Research Foundation. The authors would like to thank Lucian Craciun for the assistance with the figures.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Exosomes are cell-derived vesicles that convey key elements with the potential to modulate intercellular communication. They are known to be secreted from all types of cells, and are crucial messengers that can regulate cellular processes by 'trafficking' molecules from cells of one tissue to another. The exosomal content has been shown to be broad, composed of different types of cytokines, growth factors, proteins, or nucleic acids. Besides messenger RNA (mRNA) they can also contain noncoding transcripts such as microRNAs (miRNAs), which are small endogenous cellular regulators of protein expression. In diseases such as cancer, exosomes can facilitate tumor progression by altering their vesicular content and supplying the tumor niche with molecules that favor the progression of oncogenic processes such as proliferation, invasion and metastasis, or even drug resistance. The packaging of their molecular content is known to be tissue specific, a fact that makes them interesting tools in clinical diagnostics and ideal candidates for biomarkers. In the current report, we describe the main properties of exosomes and explain their involvement in processes such as cell differentiation and cell death. Furthermore, we emphasize the need of developing patient-targeted treatments by applying the conceptualization of exosomal-derived miRNA-based therapeutics.
AB - Exosomes are cell-derived vesicles that convey key elements with the potential to modulate intercellular communication. They are known to be secreted from all types of cells, and are crucial messengers that can regulate cellular processes by 'trafficking' molecules from cells of one tissue to another. The exosomal content has been shown to be broad, composed of different types of cytokines, growth factors, proteins, or nucleic acids. Besides messenger RNA (mRNA) they can also contain noncoding transcripts such as microRNAs (miRNAs), which are small endogenous cellular regulators of protein expression. In diseases such as cancer, exosomes can facilitate tumor progression by altering their vesicular content and supplying the tumor niche with molecules that favor the progression of oncogenic processes such as proliferation, invasion and metastasis, or even drug resistance. The packaging of their molecular content is known to be tissue specific, a fact that makes them interesting tools in clinical diagnostics and ideal candidates for biomarkers. In the current report, we describe the main properties of exosomes and explain their involvement in processes such as cell differentiation and cell death. Furthermore, we emphasize the need of developing patient-targeted treatments by applying the conceptualization of exosomal-derived miRNA-based therapeutics.
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U2 - 10.1038/cdd.2014.130
DO - 10.1038/cdd.2014.130
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25236394
AN - SCOPUS:84928032376
SN - 1350-9047
VL - 22
SP - 34
EP - 45
JO - Cell death and differentiation
JF - Cell death and differentiation
IS - 1
ER -