Current status of research on exosomes in general, and for the diagnosis and treatment of kidney cancer in particular

Abstract

Kidney cancer is a common urological tumour. Owing to its high prevalence and mortality rate, it is the third most malignant tumour of the urinary system, followed by prostate and bladder cancers. It exerts a high degree of malignancy, and most of the distant metastasis occurs at an early stage; it is insensitive to chemoradiotherapy and easily develops drug resistance. The current treatment for kidney cancer mainly includes surgery, interventional embolization and targeted therapy; however, the treatment efficacy is poor. In recent years, the role of exosomes as mediators of intercellular communication and information exchange in the tumour microenvironment in tumour pathogenesis has attracted much attention. Exosomes are rich in bioactive substances such as nucleic acids, proteins and lipids and are involved in angiogenesis, immune regulation, drug resistance, formation of pre-metastatic niche, invasion and metastasis. This article reviews the ongoing research and applications of exosomes for the diagnosis and treatment of kidney cancer.

Nucleic acids and proteins carried by exosomes of different origins as potential biomarkers for gynecologic cancers

“…Exosomes serve as an important tool for intercellular communication and intercellular material exchange and can transfer informative substances to neighboring cells or even distant cells. 20 The exosome-based cargo delivery system functions in intercellular communication through endocytosis and receptor-ligand interactions, and subsequently participates in regulating a variety of physiological and pathological processes. 21 , 22 In particular, compared with healthy cells, the cancer cells release more exosomes, the molecular compositions, cargo, and properties of which differ from those of exosomes secreted by healthy cells.…”

Noncoding-RNA mediated high expression of zinc finger protein 268 suppresses clear cell renal cell carcinoma progression by promoting apoptosis and regulating immune cell infiltration

“…Numerous studies have proved that immune infiltration affects the clinical efficacy of cancer therapy and prognosis of patients [ 26 , 27 ]. This work explores the relationship between ZNF268 expression and the types of immune cell infiltration in ccRCC.…”

Advances in the Application of Exosomes Identification Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for the Early Detection of Cancers

“…Under physiological and pathological conditions, exosomes can be actively secreted extracellularly by various cells including immune cells, stem cells and tumor cells, and can transport a large number of biomolecules from the parent cell to other cells, which is closely related to the pathogenesis of tumors ( Claridge et al, 2021 ; Oey et al, 2021 ; Yamada, 2021 ). Because of their small size, exosomes are able to avoid phagocytosis by mononuclear macrophages and cross the vascular wall to the extracellular matrix, they are widely present in various body fluids including blood, saliva, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and thoracoabdominal fluid ( Clark et al, 2021 ; Leggio et al, 2021 ; Mao et al, 2021 ; Prieto-Vila et al, 2021 ). In addition, exosomes are relatively biologically stable and can be found in tissues and cells due to their phospholipid bilayer structure ( Chen et al, 2021a ; Hu et al, 2021 ).…”