The Expression of Microvesicles in Leukemia: Prognostic Approaches

Abstract

Microvesicles (MVs) are the smallest subclass of the extracellular vesicles (EVs) spontaneously secreted by the external budding from the cell membranes in physiologic and pathologic conditions. The MVs derived from leukemic cells (LCs) can be detected by the expression of specific cluster of differentiation (CD) markers indicating their cellular origin while they can transfer different agents such as microRNAs, cytokines, and chemokines. The secretion of these agents from MVs can affect the vital processes of LCs such as cell cycle, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. According to the effects of MVs components on the vital processes of LCs, it has been postulated that a change in the expression of MVs might be involved in the progression and prognosis of leukemia. However, further studies are needed to confirm the association between the presence of MVs and their components with the prognosis of leukemia. It seems that the identification of the prognostic values and the application of them for the detection of MVs in leukemia can provide new therapeutic targets for monitoring the status of patients with leukemia.

Keywords: CD Markers; Leukemia; Microvesicles; Prognosis; microRNAs.

Fig.1

The mechanism of MVs in leukemia progression. LCs-derived MVs affect the cell fate via direct binding to receptors of the target cells. In fact, these vesicles can play a role in vital processes of target cells by transfer different agents such as microRNAs, cytokines, and chemokines. LCs-derived MVs as autocrine positive feedback could be a cause of LCs progression. Also, MVs can increase LCs survival by a decrease in anti- leukemia activity via the suppression of the immune cells, the reduction of proapoptotic proteins, and the induction of angiogenesis. Therefore, LCs-derived MVs play an important role in the progression of leukemia via disrupting the balance of these processes. MVs; Microvesicles, LCs; Leukemic cells, ECs; Endothelial cells, VEGF; Vascular endothelial growth factor, and VEGFR; VEGF receptor.