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Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: Exploring the Mechanisms of MicroRNA Loading into Extracellular Vesicles in Cancer Progression
Published on: October 6, 2023
MicroRNAs in the cancer cell-to-cell communication: An insight into biological vehicles
Behnaz Mansoori1, Behzad Baradaran2, Afsaneh Nazari3
1Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
Cell-to-cell communication networks have indispensable roles in coordinating various biological processes in cancer cells or altering metabolism activity in both cancer and non-cancer cells. Exosomes, migrasomes, ectosomes, apoptotic bodies, and exomeres belonging to the heterogeneous world of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which have gained significant attention in recent years due to their principal role in cell-to-cell communication, including Extracellular Circulating miRNAs (ECmiRNAs) as a rich cargo content. ECmiRNAs can be taken up by target cells to mediate heterotypic cell-interactions and facilitate recipient repression in neighboring cells. The complex of ECmiRNAs with EVs, proteins, and lipoproteins structures such as TLR, AGO protein complex, HDL, and LDL can be more effective as mediators between cancer cells. The mechanism of multidrug resistance and angiogenesis in cancer cells may be altered during special signaling of EVs-ECmiRNAs during cell-to-cell communication. Also, those complexes may serve as novel biomarkers in cancer prognostication.
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