Extracellular vesicle long non-coding RNA-mediated crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment: Tiny molecules, huge roles

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Emerging evidence has shown that dynamic crosstalk among cells in the tumor microenvironment modulates the progression and chemotherapeutic responses of cancer. Extracellular vesicles comprise a crucial form of intracellular communication through horizontal transfer of bioactive molecules, including long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), to neighboring cells. Three main types of extracellular vesicles are exosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies, exhibiting a wide range of sizes and different biogenesis. Over the last decade, dysregulation of extracellular vesicle lncRNA has been revealed to remodel the tumor microenvironment and induce aggressive phenotypes of tumor cells, thereby facilitating tumor growth and development. This review will focus on extracellular vesicle lncRNA-mediated crosstalk between tumor cells and recipient cells, including tumor cells as well as stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment, and overview the mechanisms by which lncRNA are selectively sorted into extracellular vesicles, which may pave the way for their clinical application in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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