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Asao et al. Extracell Vesicles Circ Nucleic Acids 2023;4:461-85 Extracellular Vesicles and
DOI: 10.20517/evcna.2023.37
Circulating Nucleic Acids

Review Open Access

Extracellular vesicles and particles as mediators of
long-range communication in cancer: connecting

biological function to clinical applications

1
1
1,#
Tetsuhiko Asao 1,2,3,# , Gabriel Cardial Tobias , Serena Lucotti , David R. Jones 2 , Irina Matei , David
Lyden 1
1
Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation Laboratories, Departments of Pediatrics, Cell & Developmental Biology, Drukier
Institute for Children’s Health and Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA.
2
Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.
3
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 163-8001, Japan.
#

These authors contributed equally.
Correspondence to: Prof. David R. Jones, Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,
1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. E-mail: jonesd2@mskcc.org; Asst. Prof. Irina Matei, Children’s Cancer and Blood
Foundation Laboratories, Departments of Pediatrics, Cell & Developmental Biology, Drukier Institute for Children’s Health and
Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, 413 East 69th St., New York, NY 10021, USA. E-mail: irm2224@med.cornell.edu;
Prof. David Lyden, Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation Laboratories, Departments of Pediatrics, Cell & Developmental
Biology, Drukier Institute for Children’s Health and Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, 413 East 69th St., New York,
NY 10021, USA. E-mail: dcl2001@med.cornell.edu
How to cite this article: Asao T, Tobias GC, Lucotti S, Jones DR, Matei I, Lyden D. Extracellular vesicles and particles as
mediators of long-range communication in cancer: connecting biological function to clinical applications. Extracell Vesicles Circ
Nucleic Acids 2023;4:461-85. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/evcna.2023.37

Received: 11 Jul 2023 First Decision: 31 Jul 2023 Revised: 8 Aug 2023 Accepted: 11 Aug 2023 Published: 17 Aug 2023

Academic Editors: Michael Graner, Yoke Peng Loh Copy Editor: Dan Zhang Production Editor: Dan Zhang

Abstract
Over the past decade, extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) have emerged as critical mediators of intercellular
communication, participating in numerous physiological and pathological processes. In the context of cancer, EVPs
exert local effects, such as increased invasiveness, motility, and reprogramming of tumor stroma, as well as
systemic effects, including pre-metastatic niche formation, determining organotropism, promoting metastasis and
altering the homeostasis of various organs and systems, such as the liver, muscle, and circulatory system. This
review provides an overview of the critical advances in EVP research during the past decade, highlighting the
heterogeneity of EVPs, their roles in intercellular communication, cancer progression, and metastasis. Moreover,
the clinical potential of systemic EVPs as useful cancer biomarkers and therapeutic agents is explored. Last but not

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
indicate if changes were made.

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