The Role of Cancer Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes in Cancer Progression

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a small portion of tumor cells with self-renewal ability in tumor tissues and are a key factor in tumor resistance, recurrence, and metastasis. CSCs produce a large number of exosomes through various mechanisms, such as paracrine and autocrine signaling. Studies have shown that CSC-derived exosomes (CSC-Exos) carry a variety of gene mutations and specific epigenetic modifications indicative of unique cell phenotypes and metabolic pathways, enabling exchange of information in the tumor microenvironment (TME) to promote tumor invasion and metastasis. In addition, CSC-Exos carry a variety of metabolites, especially proteins and miRNAs, which can activate signaling pathways to further promote tumor development. CSC-Exos have dual effects on cancer development. Due to advances in liquid biopsy technology for early cancer detection, CSCs-Exos may become an important tool for early cancer diagnosis and therapeutic drug delivery. In this article, we will review how CSC-Exos exert the above effects based on the above two aspects and explore their mechanism of action.