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Tumor-Associated Exosomes: A Potential Therapeutic Target for Restoring Anti-Tumor T Cell Responses in Human Tumor Microenvironments

Authors :
Gautam N. Shenoy
Maulasri Bhatta
Richard B. Bankert
Source :
Cells, Vol 10, Iss 11, p 3155 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

Exosomes are a subset of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are released by cells and play a variety of physiological roles including regulation of the immune system. Exosomes are heterogeneous and present in vast numbers in tumor microenvironments. A large subset of these vesicles has been demonstrated to be immunosuppressive. In this review, we focus on the suppression of T cell function by exosomes in human tumor microenvironments. We start with a brief introduction to exosomes, with emphasis on their biogenesis, isolation and characterization. Next, we discuss the immunosuppressive effect of exosomes on T cells, reviewing in vitro studies demonstrating the role of different proteins, nucleic acids and lipids known to be associated with exosome-mediated suppression of T cell function. Here, we also discuss initial proof-of-principle studies that established the potential for rescuing T cell function by blocking or targeting exosomes. In the final section, we review different in vivo models that were utilized to study as well as target exosome-mediated immunosuppression, highlighting the Xenomimetic mouse (X-mouse) model and the Omental Tumor Xenograft (OTX) model that were featured in a recent study to evaluate the efficacy of a novel phosphatidylserine-binding molecule for targeting immunosuppressive tumor-associated exosomes.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20734409
Volume :
10
Issue :
11
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Cells
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5d4d6e04b1396b7cce86f5b50d9
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10113155