Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Sep 2;28(9):1953-1964.
doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.06.003. Epub 2020 Jun 11.

Exosomes: A Potential Therapeutic Tool Targeting Communications between Tumor Cells and Macrophages

Weihua Guo  1 , Yashan Li  1 , Wei Pang  2 , Hong Shen  3
Affiliations
Review

Exosomes: A Potential Therapeutic Tool Targeting Communications between Tumor Cells and Macrophages

Weihua Guo et al. Mol Ther. .

Abstract

Exosomes comprise extracellular vesicles (EVs) with diameters between 30 and 150 nm. They transfer proteins, RNA, and other molecules from cell to cell, playing an important role in the interactions between cells. The tumor microenvironment (TME) has been found to contain various cells and molecules that have an important impact on tumor development. In the TME, macrophages have been found to have an important relationship with tumor cells, with tumors recruiting and inducing macrophages to become tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), which promote tumor development. Recently, exosomes have been found to play a critical role in the interaction between tumor cells and macrophages. Thus, in this review, we summarize the roles and mechanisms of exosomes in the interaction between tumor cells and macrophages and the potential methods by which exosomes are used to target the communication between tumor cells and macrophages to treat cancer.

Keywords: exosome; macrophage; therapeutic target; tumor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
The Activities of Cancer Cell-Derived Exosomes on Macrophages Exosomes derived from cancer cells are internalized by macrophages to regulate the polarization of macrophages, liver metastasis, bone metastasis, lymphatic metastasis, angiogenesis, drug resistance, and immune evasion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Activities of Macrophage-Derived Exosomes on Cancer Cells Exosomes derived from macrophages are internalized into cancer cells, regulating invasion, metastasis, drug resistance, and immune evasion.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Therapies Targeting the Communication between Tumor Cells and Macrophages via Exosomes (A) Using macrophage-derived exosomes to deliver drugs to improve drug delivery efficiency and efficacy. (B) Using drugs to reprogram M2 macrophages to M1 macrophages. (C) Using cancer cell-derived exosomes to deliver drugs to prevent the phagocytosis of macrophages. (D) Using drugs to alter exosomal content.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Pegtel D.M., Gould S.J. Exosomes. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 2019;88:487–514. - PubMed
    1. Farooqi A.A., Desai N.N., Qureshi M.Z., Librelotto D.R.N., Gasparri M.L., Bishayee A., Nabavi S.M., Curti V., Daglia M. Exosome biogenesis, bioactivities and functions as new delivery systems of natural compounds. Biotechnol. Adv. 2018;36:328–334. - PubMed
    1. Sato-Kuwabara Y., Melo S.A., Soares F.A., Calin G.A. The fusion of two worlds: non-coding RNAs and extracellular vesicles—diagnostic and therapeutic implications (Review) Int. J. Oncol. 2015;46:17–27. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Colombo M., Raposo G., Théry C. Biogenesis, secretion, and intercellular interactions of exosomes and other extracellular vesicles. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 2014;30:255–289. - PubMed
    1. Nagarsheth N., Wicha M.S., Zou W. Chemokines in the cancer microenvironment and their relevance in cancer immunotherapy. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 2017;17:559–572. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types