外泌体介导肿瘤发生发展进程的研究进展

Advances of exosomes in cancer progression

外泌体是一种直径为30~150 nm的双层膜结构的细胞外囊泡,能伴随多泡体与细胞膜的融合释放到细胞外,其中包覆了丰富的内容物,如蛋白质、脂质、核酸。近年来,人们发现外泌体作为一种信息传递方式,能够被受体细胞内化并传递内容物,从而参与各种生理病理过程。研究发现,肿瘤细胞来源的外泌体能够介导肿瘤的发生与发展,特别是影响肿瘤转移。因此,对外泌体的深入研究可为肿瘤的诊断与治疗提供新途径。

Exosomes are one type of extracellular vesicles about 30-150 nm in diameter. They can be secreted out of the cell with fusion of multivesicular bodies and cell membrane, which contain abundant contents such as proteins, lipids, nucleic acids. In recent years, it has been found that exosomes could transduct diverse biological signals among varied cells. They could be internalized by recipient cells, and further release the contents to recipient cells. Thereby, exosomes take part in various physiological and pathological processes. It was found that tumor cellderived exosomes could affect the occurrence and progression of cancer, especially metastasis. Therefore, exosomes might provide a new approach to the diagnosis and treatment of cancers.