Exploring the role of extracellular vesicles and their protein cargo in lung cancer metastasis: A review

• Published in: Critical reviews in oncology/hematology 2022-03, Vol.171, p.103603-103603, Article 103603
• Main Authors: Whittle, Keenan, Kao, Steven, Clarke, Stephen, Grau, Georges E.R., Hosseini-Beheshti, Elham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apoptotic bodies; Cell Communication; Exosomes; Exosomes - metabolism; Extracellular Vesicles - chemistry; Extracellular Vesicles - metabolism; Extracellular Vesicles - pathology; Humans; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Metastasis; Metastatic niche; Microvesicles; Oncogenes; Oncosomes; Proteins - analysis; Proteins - metabolism
• ISSN: 1040-8428; 1879-0461
• DOI: 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2022.103603

[Display omitted] •Extracellular vesicles have a great potential to be used as liquid biopsy biomarkers or therapeutic targets.•Specific proteins in extracellular vesicles likely important for metastasis in various lung cancers.•Most extracellular vesicles cargo studies are focused on investigating the protein content of these nanovesicles.•More lung cancer patient studies examining protein in extracellular vesicles needed.•More research examining extracellular vesicles in all different types of lung cancers and other thoracic cancers is needed. Extracellular vesicles (EV) are membrane-enclosed structures of varying size released from all cells and contain a variety of cargo including proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. They are postulated to play a pivotal role in cancer metastasis through delivery of oncogenic material to neighbouring and distant cells to promote development of a metastatic niche and tumour seeding. Here we reviewed protein data in relevant literature to determine whether specific proteins known to be involved in metastasis can be reliably identified in lung cancer EV, whether these proteins are important in all or specific lung cancers, and whether results from in-vitro cell studies are supported by research examining EV in human biofluids. Our analysis suggests that specific proteins may be more important for individual lung cancers, but interpretation of the literature is currently limited by a relative lack of research investigating EV proteins in some cancers and in clinical studies using biofluids.