Microvesicular transfer of MicroRNA in tumor microenvironment

Abstract

In recent years, the knowledge about control of tumor microenvironment has increased and emerged as an important player in tumorigenesis. The role of normal stromal cells in the tumor cells initiation and development has brought our vision to the forefront of cell-to-cell communication. In this chapter, we focus on the novel mechanism of communication between stromal and tumor cells, which is based on the exchange of microvesicles. We describe several, ever-growing pieces of evidence that microvesicles transfer messages through their lipid, protein, or nucleic acid contents. microRNA exchange is emerging as a key player in this communication. A better understanding of this sophisticated method of communication between normal and cancerous cells may lead to developing novel, innovative innovative approaches for cancer diagnostics and personalized therapy.