Extracellular Vesicle-Mediated Mitochondrial Reprogramming in Cancer

Interactions between leukemia and feeders in co-cultivation under hypoxia

BACKGROUND

Leukemia is driven by complex interactions within the inherently hypoxic bone marrow microenvironment, impacting both disease progression and therapeutic resistance. Co-cultivation of leukemic cells with feeder cells has emerged as a valuable tool to mimic the bone marrow niche. This study explores the interplay between human commercial SD-1 and patient-derived UPF26K leukemic cell lines with feeders - human fibroblasts (NHDF) and mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.

RESULTS

Co-cultivation with feeders significantly enhances proliferation and glycolytic activity in the SD-1 cells, improving their viability, while this interaction inhibits the growth and glucose metabolism of the feeders, particularly NHDF. In contrast, UPF26K cells show reduced proliferation when co-cultivated with the feeders while this interaction stimulates NHDF and hMSCs proliferation and glycolysis but reduce their mitochondrial metabolism with hypoxia amplifying these effects.

CONCLUSIONS

Cells that switch to glycolysis during co-cultivation, particularly under hypoxia, benefit most from these low oxygen conditions. Due to this leukemic cells' response heterogeneity, targeting microenvironmental interactions and oxygen levels is crucial for personalized leukemia therapy. Advancing co-cultivation models, particularly through innovations like spheroids, can further enhance in vitro studies of primary leukemic cells and support the testing of novel therapies.

The movement of mitochondria in breast cancer: internal motility and intercellular transfer of mitochondria

As a major energy source for cells, mitochondria are involved in cell growth and proliferation, as well as migration, cell fate decisions, and many other aspects of cellular function. Once thought to be irreparably defective, mitochondrial function in cancer cells has found renewed interest, from suggested potential clinical biomarkers to mitochondria-targeting therapies. Here, we will focus on the effect of mitochondria movement on breast cancer progression. Mitochondria move both within the cell, such as to localize to areas of high energetic need, and between cells, where cells within the stroma have been shown to donate their mitochondria to breast cancer cells via multiple methods including tunneling nanotubes. The donation of mitochondria has been seen to increase the aggressiveness and chemoresistance of breast cancer cells, which has increased recent efforts to uncover the mechanisms of mitochondrial transfer. As metabolism and energetics are gaining attention as clinical targets, a better understanding of mitochondrial function and implications in cancer are required for developing effective, targeted therapeutics for cancer patients.

The mitochondrial stress signaling tunes immunity from a view of systemic tumor microenvironment and ecosystem

Mitochondria play important roles in cell fate, calcium signaling, mitophagy, and the signaling through reactive oxygen species (ROS). Recently, mitochondria are considered as a signaling organelle in the cell and communicate with other organelles to constitute the mitochondrial information processing system (MIPS) that transduce input-to-output biological information. The success in immunotherapy, a concept of systemic therapy, has been proved to be dependent on paracrine interactions within the tumor microenvironment (TME) and distant organs including microbiota and immune components. We will adopt a broader view from the concept of TME to tumor micro- and macroenvironment (TM 2 E) or tumor-organ ecosystem (TOE). In this review, we will discuss the role of mitochondrial signaling by mitochondrial ROS, calcium flux, metabolites, mtDNA, vesicle transportation, and mitochondria-derived peptide in the TME and TOE, in particular immune regulation and effective cancer immunotherapy.

Extracellular vesicles as carriers for mitochondria: Biological functions and clinical applications

In recent years, research has increasingly focused on the biogenesis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and the sorting mechanisms for their contents. Mitochondria can be selectively loaded into EVs, serving as a way to maintain cellular mitochondrial homeostasis. EV-mediated mitochondrial transfer has also been shown to greatly impact the function of target cells. Based on the mechanism of EV-mediated mitochondrial transfer, therapies can be developed to treat human diseases. This review summarizes the recent advances in the biogenesis and molecular composition of EVs. It also highlights the sorting and trafficking mechanisms of mitochondrial components into EVs. Furthermore, it explores the current role of EV-mediated mitochondrial transfer in the development of human diseases, as well as its diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Extracellular Vesicles & Co.: scaring immune cells in the TME since ever

The health tissue surrounding a solid tumor, namely the tumor microenvironment (TME), is an extremely complex universe of cells, extracellular matrix, and signals of various nature, that support and protect the growth of cancer cells. The interactions taking place between cancer cells and the TME are crucial not only for tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis but they also play a key role in modulating immune system responses to cancer, and vice-versa. Indeed, tumor-infiltrating immune cells (e.g., T lymphocytes and natural killers) activity is greatly affected by signals (mostly ligands/receptors and paracrine) they receive in the TME, which frequently generate an immunosuppressive milieu. In the last years, it has become evident that soluble and receptor signaling is not the only way of communication between cells in the TME, with extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes, playing a central role. Among the different new kind of vesicles recently discovered, migrasomes look like to be of extreme interest as they are not only different from the others, but also have been reported as able to deliver a very heterogeneous kind of messages, able to profoundly affect recipient cells' behavior. Indeed, the role played by the different classes of extracellular vesicles, especially in the TME, relies on their not-directional diffusion from the originating cells, while migrasomes released from migrating cells do have a directional effect. Migrasomes biology and their involvement in cancer progression, dissemination, and resistance to therapy is still a largely obscure field, but with promising development foreseen in the next future.

Targeting mitochondrial quality control: new therapeutic strategies for major diseases

Mitochondria play a crucial role in maintaining the normal physiological state of cells. Hence, ensuring mitochondrial quality control is imperative for the prevention and treatment of numerous diseases. Previous reviews on this topic have however been inconsistencies and lack of systematic organization. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of mitochondrial quality control and explore the possibility of targeting the same for the treatment of major diseases. This review systematically summarizes three fundamental characteristics of mitochondrial quality control, including mitochondrial morphology and dynamics, function and metabolism, and protein expression and regulation. It also extensively examines how imbalances in mitochondrial quality are linked to major diseases, such as ischemia-hypoxia, inflammatory disorders, viral infections, metabolic dysregulations, degenerative conditions, and tumors. Additionally, the review explores innovative approaches to target mitochondrial quality control, including using small molecule drugs that regulate critical steps in maintaining mitochondrial quality, nanomolecular materials designed for precise targeting of mitochondria, and novel cellular therapies, such as vesicle therapy and mitochondrial transplantation. This review offers a novel perspective on comprehending the shared mechanisms underlying the occurrence and progression of major diseases and provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the clinical implementation of innovative therapeutic strategies that target mitochondrial quality control for treating major diseases.

From sweat to hope: The role of exercise-induced extracellular vesicles in cancer prevention and treatment

The benefits of regular physical exercise on cancer prevention, as well as reducing fatigue, treatment side effects and recurrence, and improving quality of life and overall survival of cancer patients, are increasingly recognised. Initial studies showed that the concentration of extracellular vesicles (EVs) increases during physical activity and that EVs carry biologically active cargo. These EVs are released by blood cells, skeletal muscle and other organs involved in exercise, thus suggesting that EVs may mediate tissue crosstalk during exercise. This possibility triggered a great interest in the study of the roles of EVs in systemic adaptation to exercise and in their potential applications in the prevention and treatment of various diseases, including cancer. This review presents studies exploring the concentration and molecular cargo of EVs released during exercise. Furthermore, we discuss putative stimuli that may trigger EV release from various cell types, the biological functions and the impact of exercise-induced EVs on cancer development and progression. Understanding the interplay between exercise, EVs, and cancer biology may offer insights into novel therapeutic strategies and preventive measures for cancer.

Angiogenic activity of mitochondria; beyond the sole bioenergetic organelle

Angiogenesis is a complex process that involves the expansion of the pre-existing vascular plexus to enhance oxygen and nutrient delivery and is stimulated by various factors, including hypoxia. Since the process of angiogenesis requires a lot of energy, mitochondria play an important role in regulating and promoting this phenomenon. Besides their roles as an oxidative metabolism base, mitochondria are potential bioenergetics organelles to maintain cellular homeostasis via sensing alteration in oxygen levels. Under hypoxic conditions, mitochondria can regulate angiogenesis through different factors. It has been indicated that unidirectional and bidirectional exchange of mitochondria or their related byproducts between the cells is orchestrated via different intercellular mechanisms such as tunneling nanotubes, extracellular vesicles, and gap junctions to maintain the cell homeostasis. Even though, the transfer of mitochondria is one possible mechanism by which cells can promote and regulate the process of angiogenesis under reperfusion/ischemia injury. Despite the existence of a close relationship between mitochondrial donation and angiogenic response in different cell types, the precise molecular mechanisms associated with this phenomenon remain unclear. Here, we aimed to highlight the possible role of mitochondria concerning angiogenesis, especially the role of mitochondrial transport and the possible relation of this transfer with autophagy, the housekeeping phenomenon of cells, and angiogenesis.

EvIPqPCR, Target Circulating Tumorous Extracellular Vesicles for Detection of Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer patients predominantly present with advanced disease at diagnosis, contributing to its high mortality. A noninvasive, fast screening method to detect this disease is an unmet need. Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tdEVs) bearing information from parental cells have emerged as a promising cancer diagnostic biomarker. However, most tdEV-based assays have impractical sample volumes and time-consuming, complex, and costly techniques. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel diagnostic method for pancreatic cancer screening. Our approach utilizes the mitochondrial DNA to nuclear DNA ratio of EVs as a collective cell-specific characteristic. We introduce EvIPqPCR, a fast method that combines immunoprecipitation (IP) and qPCR quantification to detect tumor-derived EVs directly from serum. Importantly, our method employs DNA isolation-free and duplexing probes for qPCR, saving at least 3 h. This technique has the potential to serve as a translational assay for cancer screening with a weak correlation to prognosis biomarkers and sufficient discriminatory power among healthy controls, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer cases.

Cuproptosis-Related genes in the prognosis of colorectal cancer and their correlation with the tumor microenvironment

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common tumor disease of the digestive system with high incidence and mortality. Cuproptosis has recently been found to be a new form of cell death. The clinical significance of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in CRC is not clear. In this study, The Cancer Genome Atlas Colon and Rectal Cancer dataset was used to analyze the relationship between CRGs and clinical characteristics of CRC by differential expression analysis and Kaplan–Meier survival (K-M) analysis. Based on CRGs, prognosis model and risk score of CRC was constructed in COADREAD by multivariate Cox analysis. Receiver operating curves (ROC) analysis, K-M analysis and calibration analysis in GDC TCGA Colon Cancer dataset were applied to validating model. Subsequently, the relationship between risk score of CRC and immune microenvironment was analyzed by multiple immune score algorithms. Finally, we found that most CRGs were differentially expressed between tumors and normal tissues. Some CRGs were differentially expressed among different clinical characteristics. K-M analysis showed that the CRGs were related to overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival, and progression-free survival. Subsequently, DLAT and CDKN2A were identified as risk factors for OS in CRC by multivariate Cox analysis, and the risk score was established. K–M analysis showed that there was a significant difference in OS between the high-risk and low-risk groups, which were grouped by risk score median. ROC analysis showed that the risk score performs well in predicting the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year OS. Enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes between the high- and low-risk groups were enriched in immune-related signaling pathways. Further analysis showed that there were significant differences in the levels of immune cells and stromal cells between the high- and low-risk groups. The high-risk group had higher levels of immune cells and interstitial cells. At the same time, the high-risk group had a higher immune escape ability, and the predicted immune treatment response in the high-risk group was poor. In conclusion, CRGs can be used as prognostic factors in CRC and are closely related to the levels of immune cells and stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment.

Applications of Exosomes in Diagnosing Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (MIBC) is a subset of bladder cancer with a significant risk for metastases and death. It accounts for nearly 25% of bladder cancer diagnoses. A diagnostic work-up for MIBC is inclusive of urologic evaluation, radiographic imaging with a CT scan, urinalysis, and cystoscopy. These evaluations, especially cystoscopy, are invasive and carry the risk of secondary health concerns. Non-invasive diagnostics such as urine cytology are an attractive alternative currently being investigated to mitigate the requirement for cystoscopy. A pitfall in urine cytology is the lack of available options with high reliability, specificity, and sensitivity to malignant bladder cells. Exosomes are a novel biomarker source which could resolve some of the concerns with urine cytology, due to the high specificity as the surrogates of tumor cells. This review serves to define muscle invasive bladder cancer, current urine cytology methods, the role of exosomes in MIBC, and exosomes application as a diagnostic tool in MIBC. Urinary exosomes as the specific populations of extracellular vesicles could provide additional biomarkers with specificity and sensitivity to bladder malignancies, which are a consistent source of cellular information to direct clinicians for developing treatment strategies. Given its strong presence and differentiation ability between normal and cancerous cells, exosome-based urine cytology is highly promising in providing a perspective of a patient’s bladder cancer.