Dynamic and Functional Analyses of Exosomal miRNAs Regulating Cellular Microenvironment of Ovarian Cancer Cells

Exosomes, extracellular vesicles with an average diameter of 30~150 nm, could mediate the cellular microenvironment (CM) due to their ability to carry numerous cargoes. However, the dynamic and regulative mechanisms of exsomal cargoes, including lipids, proteins, nucleic acids and metabolites still remained elusive. In current study, we collected the culture supernatants of ovarian cancer cells at four different time points (12, 24, 36, 48 h), and the exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation. The miRNA sequencing was performed for the exosomes from different groups (T12, T24, T36 and T48). A total of 131 miRNAs were identified successfully, and 41, 115, 63 and 24 miRNAs were found in T12, T24, T36 and T48 groups, respectively. Moreover, 15 common miRNAs were found among four group, and 3, 57, 10 and 3 specific ones were found in T12, T24, T36 and T48 groups, respectively. Functional analyses for the target genes of common and specific miRNAs were performed, and the results revealed that multiple target genes were associated with signaling and cancer, suggesting that exsomal miRNAs play crucial roles in intercellular crosstalk and remodeling tumor microenvironment in a dynamic manner.