Tumor-derived exosomes modulate PD-L1 expression in monocytes. Homo sapiens

Cancer cell-derived vesicles, so-called exosomes, are important means in cell-cell communication between tumor cells and the tissue microenvironment. Amongst others, exosomes harbor functional RNAs, which are transferred to recipient cells and alter the cellular phenotype of respective cells. Aim of the current study was a detailed characterization of the RNA composition of cancer-cell derived exosomes in CLL. Due to prior results showing an enrichment of small RNAs in exosomes, this was focused on profiling of small RNAs. Further, the impact of high abundant exosomal RNAs in phenotypic alterations of cells in the tumor microenvironment upon exosome uptake was studied. Overall design: Small RNA sequencing of exosomes (n=5) and respective parental cells (n=3) was conducted. Exosomes were isolated from the CLL cell line MEC-1 and for 3 out of 5 samples, paired cellular samples were harvested.

肿瘤细胞衍生的囊泡，即外泌体（exosomes），是肿瘤细胞与组织微环境之间进行细胞间通讯的重要媒介。其中，外泌体携带有功能性RNA，这些RNA可被传递至受体细胞，并改变对应细胞的细胞表型。本研究旨在对慢性淋巴细胞白血病（Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, CLL）来源的肿瘤细胞外泌体的RNA组成进行详细表征。鉴于既往研究证实外泌体中存在小RNA富集现象，本研究将分析重点置于小RNA的表达谱分析。此外，本研究还探讨了高丰度外泌体RNA在被肿瘤微环境细胞摄取后，对该类细胞表型改变所产生的影响。实验整体设计：本研究对5例外泌体样本（n=5）及其对应的亲本细胞（n=3）开展了小RNA测序。外泌体均从慢性淋巴细胞白血病细胞系MEC-1中分离得到；5份样本中的3份同时收集了配对的细胞样本。