Extracellular Vesicles and Pancreatic Cancer: Insights on the Roles of miRNA, lncRNA, and Protein Cargos in Cancer Progression

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is among the most devastating digestive tract cancers worldwide. This cancer is characterized by poor diagnostic detection, lack of therapy, and difficulty in predicting tumorigenesis progression. Although mutations of key oncogenes and oncosuppressor involved in tumor growth and in immunosurveillance escape are known, the underlying mechanisms that orchestrate PC initiation and progression are poorly understood or still under debate. In recent years, the attention of many researchers has been concentrated on the role of extracellular vesicles and of a particular subset of extracellular vesicles, known as exosomes. Literature data report that these nanovesicles are able to deliver their cargos to recipient cells playing key roles in the pathogenesis and progression of many pancreatic precancerous conditions. In this review, we have summarized and discussed principal cargos of extracellular vesicles characterized in PC, such as miRNAs, lncRNAs, and several proteins, to offer a systematic overview of their function in PC progression. The study of extracellular vesicles is allowing to understand that investigation of their secretion and analysis of their content might represent a new and potential diagnostic and prognostic tools for PC.

Identification of N6-Methyladenosine-Associated Long Non-coding RNAs for Immunotherapeutic Response and Prognosis in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer

“…Pancreatic cancer is one of the most life-threatening malignant cancers. It is difficult to be diagnosed in the early stage and is progressed rapidly by about 1% per year ( Maisonneuve, 2019 ; Romano et al, 2021 ; Siegel et al, 2021 ). In 2020, there were a total of 496,000 new cases and 466,000 deaths ( Sung et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In 2020, there were a total of 496,000 new cases and 466,000 deaths ( Sung et al, 2021 ). New cases arise to 60,430, and cancer related death arise to 48,200 in 2021 ( Romano et al, 2021 ). The median survival time of pancreatic cancer is 4–5 months and the 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer remains at 8.2% ( Geng et al, 2020 ).…”

Pancreatic Cancer Small Extracellular Vesicles (Exosomes): A Tale of Short- and Long-Distance Communication

“…Pathology of CP includes exocrine and endocrine pancreatic insufficiency, inflammation as well as high levels of pancreatic fibrosis [ 68 ]. There has been increasing evidence that sEVs are also involved in inflammatory signaling during pancreatitis or carcinogenesis of PDAC [ 69 ]. During AP, the concentration of circulating sEVs is significantly increased.…”

Identification of Two Exosomal miRNAs in Circulating Blood of Cancer Patients by Using Integrative Transcriptome and Network Analysis

“…During the past decade, there was a dramatic increase in studies demonstrating that extracellular vesicles carry molecules of great biological and clinical interest. For example, exosomes contain non-coding RNAs, especially miRNAs, which have been strongly suggested to be associated with the development of cancer [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs of approximately 20–25 nucleotides (nt) in length, with the ability to modulate gene expression by binding to specific regions at the 3′ UTR end of genes, inducing the repression or complete degradation of mRNAs [ 9 , 10 ].…”