REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1593834
This article is part of the Research TopicCancer Metastases: Mechanisms of Tumor Dissemination, Formation of Metastatic Niche and Anti-metastatic TherapyView all 12 articles
Beyond Boundaries: Exploring the Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Organ-specific Metastasis in Solid Tumors
Provisionally accepted
- 1Cell and Experimental Pathology, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- 2Translational Oncology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Hansraj College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
- 3Division of Cyclotron and Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS-DRDO), New Delhi, India
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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been identified as important mediators of cancer metastasis, especially in the establishment of organ-specific metastatic niches. These membranous vesicles secreted by tumor cells release diverse bioactive cargo, including proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, thereby allowing for intercellular communication and microenvironment modulation.Recent evidence demonstrates that EVs can also contribute to the formation of pre-metastatic niches by reprogramming immune cells, modifying the stromal environment, and inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to promote metastatic colonization. In this review, we describe the molecular mechanism of organotropic metastasis orchestrated by EVs, with special emphasis on immune modulation and tumor microenvironment reprogramming. We also explore the potential of EVs as biomarkers for early detection of metastasis and as potential therapeutic targets for combating metastatic progression. Dissociating EV species and their influence on tumor dissemination will undoubtedly pave the way for implementing novel anti-cancer strategies to intercept tumor dissemination at its very early stages.
Keywords: extracellular vesicles, metastasis, EMT, Cancer, exosome
Received: 14 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nidhi, Yadav, SINGH, Sharma, Bohot and Satapathy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shakti Ranjan Satapathy, Cell and Experimental Pathology, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
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