Exosomes in Tumor Microenvironment Influence Cancer Progression and Metastasis

By Christoph Kahlert, Raghu Kalluri. Journal of molecular medicine, 2013

829 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Exosomes are small membrane vesicles of endocytic origin with a size of 50–100 nm. They can contain microRNAs, mRNAs, DNA fragments, and proteins, which are shuttled from a donor cell to recipient cells. Many different cell types including immune cells, mesenchymal cells, and cancer cells release exosomes. There is emerging evidence that cancer-derived exosomes contribute to the recruitment and reprogramming of constituents associated with tumor environment. Here, we discuss different mechanisms associated with biogenesis, payload, and transport of exosomes. We highlight the functional relevance of exosomes in cancer, as related to tumor microenvironment, tumor immunology, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Exosomes may exert an immunosuppressive function as well as trigger an anti-tumor response by presenting tumor antigens to dendritic cells. Exosomes may serve as cancer biomarkers and aid in the treatment of cancer.

Subfields: Cancer Research, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0824f1aebd259233140a838d1c6ae567209a2472

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cancer Research

1. Raghu Kalluri
2. D. Tuveson
3. Ela Elyada
4. D. Öhlund
5. D. Hanahan

In Molecular Biology

1. Raghu Kalluri
2. D. Tuveson
3. Christoph Kahlert
4. Ela Elyada
5. D. Öhlund
6. S. Melo
7. Rakesh K. Jain
8. M. Nieto

Citations in the corpus

• Effect of exosomal miRNA on cancer biology and clinical applications (2018, background): “miRNA-carrying exosomes released from immune cells, mesenchymal cells and cancer cells in the tumor environment can shuttle from donor cells to recipient cells [8, 9].”
• Cancer Exosomes Perform Cell-Independent MicroRNA Biogenesis and Promote Tumorigenesis. (2025, neutral): “Exosomes are nano-vesicles of 50–140 nm in size that contain proteins, mRNA, and microRNAs (miRNAs) protected by a lipid bilayer (Kahlert and Kalluri, 2013; Cocucci et al., 2009; Simons and Raposo, 2009; Simpson et al., 2008; Thé ry et al., 2002).”
• The biology, function, and biomedical applications of exosomes (2020, neutral): “The MVB can either fuse with lysosomes or autophagosomes to be degraded or fuse with the plasmamembrane to release the contained ILVs as exosomes (3, 4).”
• Identification of Double-stranded Genomic DNA Spanning All Chromosomes with Mutated KRAS and p53 DNA in the Serum Exosomes of Patients with Pancreatic Cancer* (2014, background): “Because tumor-derived exosomes contain a wide range of RNA molecules and proteins, they have been considered to be promising candidates for discovery of diagnostic biomarkers in cancer and other diseases (1, 20).”
• Fibroblast heterogeneity in the cancer wound (2014, background): “–SMA is a robust CAF marker, which usually identifies CAFs with myofibroblast morphology (Desmoulière et al., 2004).”