Potential role of exosomes in cancer therapy

Abstract

Cancer is a major public health problem, and >18.1 million new cancer cases are diagnosed annually. Cancer can be treated with the help of several methods, such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. Chemoresistance causes disease relapse and metastasis, and is a main obstacle to cancer therapy. The function of exosomes has been recently highlighted in cancer treatment and therapeutic resistance. Exosomes, described as nanovesicles secreted by multiple mammalian cell types, play important roles in intercellular communication by acting as carriers of functional contents, such as proteins, non-coding RNA (miRNA, lncRNA), mRNAs, and lipids. In addition, exosomes might participate in cancer therapeutic resistance. The present review aimed to describe the function of exosomes in different types of cancer, with emphasis on their role in chemoresistance, hoping to provide novel insights on their implications in cancer therapy.