No abstract

Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignancy in China with high mortality. Understanding pathogenesis and identifying early diagnosis biomarkers can significantly improve the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer. Exosomes are small vesicular structures containing a variety of components (including DNA, RNA, and proteins) mediating cell-to-cell material exchange and signal communication. Growing evidences have shown that exosomes and its components are involved in growth, metastasis and angiogenesis in cancer, and could also be used as diagnostic and prognostic markers. In this review, we summarized recent progress to elucidate the significance of exosomes in the esophageal cancer progression, microenvironment remodeling, therapeutic resistance, and immunosuppression. We also discuss the utility of exosomes as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic tool in esophageal cancer.

Background Abundant evidence suggests that a neurotrophic factor, artemin (ARTN), is involved in the tumorigenesis and progression in several malignancies. However, the biological functions of ARTN in gastric cancer (GC) remain poorly elucidated. Methods ARTN expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in GC tissue, and its clinical and prognosis significance was analyzed. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), transwell chamber assay, and western blot were used to detect the effects of ARTN knockdown on GC cell behavior in vitro . Results ARTN was highly expressed in GC tissue, and its positive expression predicted poor prognosis of GC. In vitro studies showed that ARTN knockdown inhibited the STAT3 phosphorylation, thus impeding cell proliferation and DNA synthesis in GC. Furthermore, the promotion of ARTN on the migration and invasion of GC cells was achieved by regulating the expression of MMP9 and E-cadherin. Conclusions ARTN might be a promising prognostic marker and a potential therapeutic target for GC.