Bladder cancer exosomes:Getting the message across

摘要

Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in men and the seventeenth most common in women.It is also the most expensive cancer to treat over the lifetime of a patient,partially due to the necessity of frequent cystoscopy to monitor for tumor recurrence.There have also been no new developments for the treatment of bladder cancer in the last several decades.Exosomes are small,secreted,membrane-bound vesicles representative of the donor cell.Increasing understanding of the role of exosomes in cancer biology has inspired interest in their potential use as a non-invasive diagnostic tool,prognostic markers and/or indicator of recurrence of bladder cancer,and even for use in the treatment of bladder cancer.Exosomes can be readily isolated from urine.Several groups have already demonstrated differences in the protein and micro RNA content of exosomes in bladder cancer patients compared to normal healthy volunteers.Furthermore,cancer cellderived exosomes mediate tumor progression through the delivery of their biologically active content to recipient cells.Exosomes may be useful for the delivery of targeted molecules for the treatment of bladder cancer.