LC-MSMS of microplasts derived from macrophage conditioned medium treated breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells. Pooja Kamal Melwani, M.Sc., Nishad S, PhD, Badri Narain Pandey, PhD, Radiation Signalling and Cancer Biology Section, Radiation Biology & Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai 400 085, India

Paracrine signals relayed between heterogenous cell types through small and large extracellular vesicles promote cancer cell growth, invasion and metastasis. Microplasts, also called as cytoplasts or cytokineplasts are large extracellular vesicles (0.5-11µm diameter) originating from migratory cells. Microplasts are known to be associated with invasive phenotypes of cancer cells and promote metastasis. Treatment with macrophage conditioned medium induces significant shedding of microplasts from MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cells. To characterise microplasts and to study their potential role in intercellular communication in cancer, we isolated microplasts derived from macrophage conditioned medium treated MCF-7 cells and investigated their protein cargo through LC-MSMS.