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Review
. 2022 Aug 9;23(16):8845.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23168845.

Exosomes in Breast Cancer: Involvement in Tumor Dissemination and Prospects for Liquid Biopsy

Aleksei Shefer  1   2 , Alena Yalovaya  1 , Svetlana Tamkovich  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Exosomes in Breast Cancer: Involvement in Tumor Dissemination and Prospects for Liquid Biopsy

Aleksei Shefer et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

In women, breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer (24.5%) and the leading cause of cancer death (15.5%). Understanding how this heterogeneous disease develops and the confirm mechanisms behind tumor progression is of utmost importance. Exosomes are long-range message vesicles that mediate communication between cells in physiological conditions but also in pathology, such as breast cancer. In recent years, there has been an exponential rise in the scientific studies reporting the change in morphology and cargo of tumor-derived exosomes. Due to the transfer of biologically active molecules, such as RNA (microRNA, long non-coding RNA, mRNA, etc.) and proteins (transcription factors, enzymes, etc.) into recipient cells, these lipid bilayer 30-150 nm vesicles activate numerous signaling pathways that promote tumor development. In this review, we attempt to shed light on exosomes' involvement in breast cancer pathogenesis (including epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), tumor cell proliferation and motility, metastatic processes, angiogenesis stimulation, and immune system repression). Moreover, the potential use of exosomes as promising diagnostic biomarkers for liquid biopsy of breast cancer is also discussed.

Keywords: breast cancer; exosomal cargo; exosomes; liquid biopsy; microRNA; proteins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
General scheme of processes of formation and secretion of exosomes and their main regulators.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spreading of tumor exosomes in organism.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Transmission and cryo-electron microscopy images of exosomes isolated from pooled samples of BC patients’ plasma. Typical transmission electron microscopy view of exosomes (A). Cryo-electron microscopy images of exosomes: single vesicles (B); double vesicles (C); double-membrane vesicles (D); multilayer vesicles (E); vesicles with electron dense cargo in lumen (F). Scale bars are 100 nm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
MicroRNAs involved in tumor dissemination. The microRNAs that have a stimulating effect on the development of the process are indicated in red, and the inhibitory effect is indicated in blue.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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