Cancer as an infective disease: the role of EVs in tumorigenesis

Abstract

Cancer is conventionally considered an evolutionary disease where tumor cells adapt to the environment and evolve eventually leading to the formation of metastasis through the seeding and growth of metastasis-initiating cells in distant organs. Tumor cell and tumor-stroma communication via soluble factors and extracellular vesicles (EVs) are essential for the success of the metastatic process. As the field of EVs advances, growing data support the role of tumor-derived EVs not only in modifying the microenvironment to facilitate tumor progression but also in inducing changes in cells outside the primary tumor that may lead to a malignant transformation. Thus, an alternative hypothesis has emerged suggesting the conceptualization of cancer as an 'infective' disease. Still, tackling EVs as a possible cancer treatment has not been widely explored. A major understanding is needed to unveil possible additional contributions of EVs in progression and metastasis, which may be essential for the development of novel approaches to treat cancer patients. Here, we review the contribution of EVs to cancer progression and the possible implication of these factors in the oncogenic transformation of indolent cells.

Exosome-Mediated Antigen Delivery: Unveiling Novel Strategies in Viral Infection Control and Vaccine Design

“…Their role in cancerous processes has notably received particular attention, enabling the scientific community to unravel the mechanisms of exosome capture and action. At the same time, the communication system driven by EVs in cancer revealed an extreme complexity of both pro- and anti-tumor effects [ 100 , 101 , 102 ]. For example, EVs derived from malignant cells, which differ in content from exosomes produced by healthy cells, have been shown to play a key role in liver pre-metastatic niche initiation during pancreatic cancer [ 58 , 59 ].…”

Communicator Extraordinaire: Extracellular Vesicles in the Tumor Microenvironment Are Essential Local and Long-Distance Mediators of Cancer Metastasis

“…In addition to the contribution of BMDCs to the generation of pre-metastatic niches, multiple studies have identified a large number of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors which are connected to specific pre-metastatic niche-related processes [ 171 , 172 , 173 ]. In recent studies, EVs secreted from primary tumor cells have been described to have unique and central functions during PMN establishment and maintenance [ 174 , 175 , 176 ].…”

The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis of Hematological Malignancies: Interaction with Tumor Microenvironment; a Potential Biomarker and Targeted Therapy

“…On the other hand, the transfer of oncogenic nucleic acids such as miRNAs, specifically miR-221 from highly aggressive breast tumor cells to nonaggressive cancer cells, via EVs, contributing to the promotion of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) [ 71 ] and leading to the induction of proliferation and metastasis while preventing drug-induced apoptosis of EVs’ fused recipient cells [ 5 ]. Therefore, tumor cells more often induce oncogenic transformations into normal healthy cells via the transfer of oncogenic bioactive molecules through EVs [ 72 , 73 ].…”