Pathogenic and Therapeutic Interplay of Extracellular Vesicles in Cancer and Other Diseases

Abstract

Extracellular vehicles (EVs), which can be exosomes, micro-vesicles, and apoptotic bodies, are lipid bilayer membrane vesicles implicated in inter-communication and cross talk. EVs are known to efficiently cargo DNA, lipids, oncogenic proteins, non-coding RNA, etc., which are essential in intracellular signaling, leading to their role in physiological cell-to-cell communication and pathological processes. EVs’ cargo influences their role in different pathological processes. EVs have a critical role in types of cancer. However, they are not limited to cancer. They are also involved in cardiac disorders, mental diseases, atherosclerosis, lesion formation, sepsis, and renal fibrosis. The role of EVs in progression, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis presents an opportunity to understand the development and treatment of cancer to derive good outcomes for the patient. Moreover, EVs could be a biomarker, and their utilization can improve diagnosis and therapy for cancer.
Keywords: Micro-vesicles, Exosomes; MiRNA, Cancer Metastasis, Tumor micro-environment.