Exosomes as potent regulators of HCC malignancy and potential bio-tools in clinical application

Exosomes are small membranous vesicles about 30~100 nm in diameter and formed from inward budding of the limiting membrane of multi-vesicular bodies (MVB). Exosomes are secreted by most cell types (including hepatocellular carcinoma cells) into the extracellular environment and can be isolated from various body fluids. Exosomes have broad biological function through delivering contained molecules to the target cells. Although limited studies on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exosomes, increasing observations suggest that exosomes are important in HCC metastatic and prognosis, and exosomes are potential new molecular biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of HCC. In this review, we briefly summarize the latest findings on HCC exosomes, and their potential functions for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches of HCC.