title: Extracellular Vesicles as Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets in Breast Cancer.
abstract: Cancer-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain various cancer-associated molecules, such as mutated or overexpressed oncoproteins, glycoproteins, mRNAs, various non-coding RNAs and DNA fragments. They have been shown to propagate phenotypic traits, such as drug resistance, increased proliferation rate, invasiveness and stemness across cancer cells and to mediate cancer-induced immunosuppression. Therefore, cancer-derived EVs have gained increasing attention as cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Unlike circulating tumor cells they are highly abundant in biofluids and, on the contrary to single-molecule circulating biomarkers, they protect their molecular cargo against degradation and may carry molecular signatures associated with specific phenotypes. Herein, we summarize studies investigating EVs as biomarkers in breast cancer and propose scenarios for various clinical applications of EV-based biomarkers in the management of breast cancer. Furthermore, we provide an overview of recent findings regarding the cancer-promoting effects of breast cancer-derived EVs and discuss opportunities for blocking EV-mediated signaling as a therapeutic strategy for breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Riga, Latvia.
authors.forename: Lilite
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sadovska
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia.
authors.forename: Jānis
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eglītis
authors.affiliation: Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Riga, Latvia aija@biomed.lu.lv.
authors.forename: Aija
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Linē
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000067128:Extracellular Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: Breast cancer; biomarkers; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; liquid biopsy; microvesicles; review