Extracellular vesicles: Unraveling their physiology and role in cancer

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been thoroughly studied from different physiological contexts and now there are strong evidences that they play an important role in cancer. They have a bimodal role in cancer wherein they can manipulate the local and systemic environment to aid in cancer growth and dissemination as well as program the immune system to elicit an anti-tumor response. The amount of information on their formation, nature of cargo contained within them and horizontal communication of different types of cancer EVs has expanded considerably in recent years. Herein, we discuss biogenesis, physiological functions and contents of exosomes as well as their contribution to tumorigenesis.