Cancer-derived Exosomes As Novel Biomarkers in Metastatic Gastrointestinal Cancer

Overview

Journal Mol Cancer

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Molecular Biology
Oncology

Date 2024 Apr 2

PMID 38561768

Authors

Danyang Zhong

Ziyuan Wang

Zhichao Ye

Yifan Wang

Xiujun Cai

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) is the most prevalent and highly metastatic malignant tumor and has a significant impact on mortality rates. Nevertheless, the swift advancement of contemporary technology has not seamlessly aligned with the evolution of detection methodologies, resulting in a deficit of innovative and efficient clinical assays for GIC. Given that exosomes are preferentially released by a myriad of cellular entities, predominantly originating from neoplastic cells, this confers exosomes with a composition enriched in cancer-specific constituents. Furthermore, exosomes exhibit ubiquitous presence across diverse biological fluids, endowing them with the inherent advantages of non-invasiveness, real-time monitoring, and tumor specificity. The unparalleled advantages inherent in exosomes render them as an ideal liquid biopsy biomarker for early diagnosis, prognosticating the potential development of GIC metastasis.In this review, we summarized the latest research progress and possible potential targets on cancer-derived exosomes (CDEs) in GIC with an emphasis on the mechanisms of exosome promoting cancer metastasis, highlighting the potential roles of CDEs as the biomarker and treatment in metastatic GIC.

Citing Articles

Spermine accumulation via spermine synthase promotes tumor cell proliferation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Chen X, Song F, Xiao P, Yao Y, Li D, Fang Y BMC Cancer. 2025; 25(1):402.

PMID: 40045286 PMC: 11884143. DOI: 10.1186/s12885-025-13820-x.

Exosomes and their distinct integrins transfer the characteristics of oxaliplatin- and 5-FU-resistant behaviors in colorectal cancer cells.

Vakili-Ghartavol Z, Deli H, Shadboorestan A, Sahebnasagh R, Motevaseli E, Ghahremani M Mol Med. 2025; 31(1):49.

PMID: 39915745 PMC: 11803997. DOI: 10.1186/s10020-025-01110-y.

A colorimetric nano-enzyme assay with Ni@Pt nanoparticles as signal labels for rapid and sensitive detection of exosomal Aβ42 in plasma.

Zhang J, Zhao Y, Hu H, Lv M, Zhang H Mikrochim Acta. 2025; 192(1):53.

PMID: 39753867 DOI: 10.1007/s00604-024-06862-8.

Research Progress of in the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Cancer.

Wang L, Ni B, Wang J, Zhou J, Wang J, Jiang J Integr Cancer Ther. 2024; 23:15347354241302049.

PMID: 39610320 PMC: 11605761. DOI: 10.1177/15347354241302049.

Exploring exosomes: novel diagnostic and therapeutic frontiers in thyroid cancer.

Zhang S, Yang Y, Wang D, Yang X, Cai Y, Shui C Front Pharmacol. 2024; 15:1431581.

PMID: 39584141 PMC: 11581896. DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1431581.

References

Huang C, Tang S, Shen D, Li X, Liang L, Ding Y . Circulating plasma exosomal miRNA profiles serve as potential metastasis-related biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncol Lett. 2021; 21(2):168. PMC: 7798106. DOI: 10.3892/ol.2021.12429. View

Zhu M, Zhang N, He S, Lu X . Exosomal miR-106a derived from gastric cancer promotes peritoneal metastasis via direct regulation of Smad7. Cell Cycle. 2020; 19(10):1200-1221. PMC: 7217357. DOI: 10.1080/15384101.2020.1749467. View

Sento S, Sasabe E, Yamamoto T . Application of a Persistent Heparin Treatment Inhibits the Malignant Potential of Oral Squamous Carcinoma Cells Induced by Tumor Cell-Derived Exosomes. PLoS One. 2016; 11(2):e0148454. PMC: 4743844. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148454. View

Hu Z, Chen G, Zhao Y, Gao H, Li L, Yin Y . Exosome-derived circCCAR1 promotes CD8 + T-cell dysfunction and anti-PD1 resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma. Mol Cancer. 2023; 22(1):55. PMC: 10024440. DOI: 10.1186/s12943-023-01759-1. View

Tang P, Tao L, Yuan C, Zhang L, Xiu D . Serum Derived Exosomes From Pancreatic Cancer Patients Promoted Metastasis: An iTRAQ-Based Proteomic Analysis. Onco Targets Ther. 2019; 12:9329-9339. PMC: 6844101. DOI: 10.2147/OTT.S229494. View

Dou R, Liu K, Yang C, Zheng J, Shi D, Lin X . EMT-cancer cells-derived exosomal miR-27b-3p promotes circulating tumour cells-mediated metastasis by modulating vascular permeability in colorectal cancer. Clin Transl Med. 2021; 11(12):e595. PMC: 8694332. DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.595. View

Emmanouilidi A, Paladin D, Greening D, Falasca M . Oncogenic and Non-Malignant Pancreatic Exosome Cargo Reveal Distinct Expression of Oncogenic and Prognostic Factors Involved in Tumor Invasion and Metastasis. Proteomics. 2019; 19(8):e1800158. DOI: 10.1002/pmic.201800158. View

Wang D, Li R, Jiang J, Qian H, Xu W . Exosomal circRNAs: Novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for gastrointestinal tumors. Biomed Pharmacother. 2022; 157:114053. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2022.114053. View

Yang H, Zhang H, Yang Y, Wang X, Deng T, Liu R . Hypoxia induced exosomal circRNA promotes metastasis of Colorectal Cancer via targeting GEF-H1/RhoA axis. Theranostics. 2020; 10(18):8211-8226. PMC: 7381736. DOI: 10.7150/thno.44419. View

10.

Chen J, Li Z, Yue C, Ma J, Cao L, Lin J . Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes carrying miR-1827 downregulate SUCNR1 to inhibit macrophage M2 polarization and prevent colorectal liver metastasis. Apoptosis. 2023; 28(3-4):549-565. DOI: 10.1007/s10495-022-01798-x. View

11.

Li Y, Zang H, Zhang X, Huang G . Exosomal Circ-ZNF652 Promotes Cell Proliferation, Migration, Invasion and Glycolysis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma via miR-29a-3p/GUCD1 Axis. Cancer Manag Res. 2020; 12:7739-7751. PMC: 7473989. DOI: 10.2147/CMAR.S259424. View

12.

Xu Y, Luan G, Li Z, Liu Z, Qin G, Chu Y . Tumour-derived exosomal lncRNA SNHG16 induces telocytes to promote metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma via the miR-942-3p/MMP9 axis. Cell Oncol (Dordr). 2022; 46(2):251-264. DOI: 10.1007/s13402-022-00746-w. View

13.

Chen C, Liu Y, Liu L, Si C, Xu Y, Wu X . Exosomal circTUBGCP4 promotes vascular endothelial cell tipping and colorectal cancer metastasis by activating Akt signaling pathway. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2023; 42(1):46. PMC: 9930311. DOI: 10.1186/s13046-023-02619-y. View

14.

Meltzer S, Bjornetro T, Lyckander L, Flatmark K, Dueland S, Samiappan R . Circulating Exosomal miR-141-3p and miR-375 in Metastatic Progression of Rectal Cancer. Transl Oncol. 2019; 12(8):1038-1044. PMC: 6542769. DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2019.04.014. View

15.

Gerstberger S, Jiang Q, Ganesh K . Metastasis. Cell. 2023; 186(8):1564-1579. PMC: 10511214. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.03.003. View

16.

Liu X, Lu Y, Xu Y, Hou S, Huang J, Wang B . Exosomal transfer of miR-501 confers doxorubicin resistance and tumorigenesis via targeting of BLID in gastric cancer. Cancer Lett. 2019; 459:122-134. DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2019.05.035. View

17.

Obenauf A, Massague J . Surviving at a Distance: Organ-Specific Metastasis. Trends Cancer. 2017; 1(1):76-91. PMC: 4673677. DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2015.07.009. View

18.

Ge L, Zhang N, Li D, Wu Y, Wang H, Wang J . Circulating exosomal small RNAs are promising non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for gastric cancer. J Cell Mol Med. 2020; 24(24):14502-14513. PMC: 7753781. DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.16077. View

19.

Gao L, Tang X, He Q, Sun G, Wang C, Qu H . Exosome-transmitted circCOG2 promotes colorectal cancer progression via miR-1305/TGF-β2/SMAD3 pathway. Cell Death Discov. 2021; 7(1):281. PMC: 8505430. DOI: 10.1038/s41420-021-00680-0. View

20.

Qiu S, Xie L, Lu C, Gu C, Xia Y, Lv J . Gastric cancer-derived exosomal miR-519a-3p promotes liver metastasis by inducing intrahepatic M2-like macrophage-mediated angiogenesis. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2022; 41(1):296. PMC: 9549645. DOI: 10.1186/s13046-022-02499-8. View