title: Extracellular vesicles: their role in cancer biology and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
abstract: Cell-cell communication is critical across an assortment of physiological and pathological processes. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent an integral facet of intercellular communication largely through the transfer of functional cargo such as proteins, messenger RNAs (mRNAs), microRNA (miRNAs), DNAs and lipids. EVs, especially exosomes and shed microvesicles, represent an important delivery medium in the tumour micro-environment through the reciprocal dissemination of signals between cancer and resident stromal cells to facilitate tumorigenesis and metastasis. An important step of the metastatic cascade is the reprogramming of cancer cells from an epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype (epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT), which is associated with increased aggressiveness, invasiveness and metastatic potential. There is now increasing evidence demonstrating that EVs released by cells undergoing EMT are reprogrammed (protein and RNA content) during this process. This review summarises current knowledge of EV-mediated functional transfer of proteins and RNA species (mRNA, miRNA, long non-coding RNA) between cells in cancer biology and the EMT process. An in-depth understanding of EVs associated with EMT, with emphasis on molecular composition (proteins and RNA species), will provide fundamental insights into cancer biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Shashi K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Gopal
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Greening
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Alin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Maoshan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shafiq
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Rommel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mathias
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3050, Australia.
authors.forename: Hong-Jian
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055252:Cell-Derived Microparticles / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D008055:Lipids; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm
keywords: cancer biology; epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; exosome; extracellular vesicles; metastasis; tumour micro-environment