Journal Article

Communication between cells: exosomes as a delivery system in prostate cancer

Galasso, Giovanni, Migliaccio, Antimo, Licitra, Fabrizio, Perillo, Bruno, Giovannelli, Pia, Castoria, Gabriella, Di Donato, Marzia, Monaco, Alessandra

2021

Overview

Despite the considerable efforts in screening and diagnostic protocols, prostate cancer still represents the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. Many patients with localized disease and low risk of recurrence have a favourable outcome. In a substantial proportion of patients, however, the disease progresses and becomes aggressive. The mechanisms that promote prostate cancer progression remain still debated. Many findings point to the role of cross-communication between prostate tumor cells and their surrounding microenvironment during the disease progression. Such a connection fosters survival, proliferation, angiogenesis, metastatic spreading and drug-resistance of prostate cancer. Recent years have seen a profound interest in understanding the way by which prostate cancer cells communicate with the surrounding cells in the microenvironment. In this regard, direct cell-to-cell contacts and soluble factors have been identified. Increasing evidence indicates that PC cells communicate with the surrounding cells through the release of extracellular vesicles, mainly the exosomes. By directly acting in stromal or prostate cancer epithelial cells, exosomes represent a critical intercellular communication system. By querying the public database ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ) for the past 10 years, we have found more than four hundred papers. Among them, we have extrapolated the most relevant about the role of exosomes in prostate cancer malignancy and progression. Emerging data concerning the use of these vesicles in diagnostic management and therapeutic guidance of PC patients are also presented. Graphical Abstract 1DqfFXj5THWfvfM5dL2yCu Video Abstract

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Angiogenesis / Animals / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Cell Biology / Cell Communication / Cell interaction / Cell interactions / Cell organelles / Cellular signal transduction / Communications systems / Cytokines and Growth Factors / Development and progression / Diagnosis / Diagnostic guidance / Disease / Drug resistance / Enzymes / Epidermal growth factor / Epithelial cells / Exosomes / Exosomes - metabolism / Extracellular vesicles / Genetic aspects / Health aspects / Humans / Invasiveness / Kinases / Life Sciences / Male / Malignancy / Metastases / Metastasis / Microenvironments / Motility / Pheochromocytoma cells / Physiology / Plasma / Prostate cancer / Prostatic Neoplasms - metabolism / Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology / Protein-Ligand Interactions / Proteins / Receptors / Review / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Sperm / Therapeutic applications / Tumor cells / Tumor Microenvironment / Vesicles