Extracellular Vesicles in Cervical Cancer and HPV Infection

Abstract

Since their description, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have shown growing relevance in cancer progression. These cell structures contain and transfer molecules such as nucleic acids (including DNA and RNA), proteins, and lipids. Despite the rising information about EVs’ relationship with cancer, there is still scarce evidence about their content and function in cervical cancer. Interestingly, the composition and purposes of some cellular molecules and the expression of oncogenic proteins packaged in EVs seem modified in HPV-infected cells; and, although only the E6 oncogenic protein has been detected in exosomes from HPV-positive cells, both E6/E7 oncogenes mRNA has been identified in EVs; however, their role still needs to be clarified. Given that EVs internalizing into adjacent or distant cells could modify their cellular behavior or promote cancer-associated events like apoptosis, proliferation, migration, or angiogenesis in receptor cells, their comprehensive study will reveal EV-associated mechanisms in cervical cancer. This review summarizes the current knowledge in composition and functions of cervical cancer and HPV Infection-derived EVs.

Matrix metalloproteinase‐2 delivery to extracellular vesicles produced by HPV‐positive cervical cancer cells enhances metastasis via the Akt pathway

“…Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play important roles in cell-to-cell communication and modulate biological functions by transferring the bioactive molecules (Acevedo-Sánchez et al, 2021;Domenis et al, 2021). In our study, we successfully isolated EVs from SiHa, HeLa, and C-33A cells through classical characterization methods, including TEM and NTA (Kaczmarek et al, 2022;Qadir et al, 2018), and found that MMP-2 showed higher levels in EVs secreted by HPV-positive SiHa and HeLa cells than those in EVs secreted by These results are consistent with the previous findings that MMP-2 is an inducer of cervical cancer (Chatterjee et al, 2003;Lopez-Charcas et al, 2018;Lubowicka et al, 2020).…”

Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cell exosomes induce apoptosis and suppress EMT signaling in cervical cancer cells as an effective drug carrier system of paclitaxel

“…Cervical cancer progression depends on HPV and multiple heterotypic cell interactions that make up the tumor environment. In examining these effects, the potential of using exosomes, which play a role in cellular communication, as a diagnostic and therapeutic biomarker, is being investigated [ 29 , 30 ]. Our study isolated mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cord tissue wharton jelly and purified the exosomes they secreted out of the cell in vitro.…”

HPV-Related Cervical Cancer and Extracellular Vesicles

“…Virus-modified EVs may participate in the remodeling of the cancer microenvironment into proangiogenic and immunosuppressive, promoting cell migration and invasion by transferring oncogenic factors to the adjacent cells [ 63 , 96 ]. Potentially, EVs obtained by a noninvasive method, such as biopsy, might serve as a biomarker of cancer advancement [ 63 , 96 ].…”