REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
This article is part of the Research TopicRole of ncRNAs in Immunogenic Cell Death of CancerView all 6 articles
Exosomal Non-Coding RNAs: Orchestrators of Intercellular Crosstalk in the Prostate Cancer Tumor Microenvironment
Provisionally accepted
- 1The First People's Hospital of Xiushui, Jiujiang, China
- 2Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China
- 3Feng Cheng People's Hospital, Yichun, China
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Prostate cancer (PCa) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in men worldwide, primarily due to its propensity for therapy resistance and metastasis. Emerging evidence underscores that exosomes, nanoscale extracellular vesicles, act as critical mediators of intercellular communication within the tumor microenvironment (TME), particularly via the non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) they transport. These molecules include microRNAs (miRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Exosomal ncRNAs drive tumor progression, immune evasion, and therapy resistance by reprogramming neighboring stromal cells, immune cells, and malignant cells. This review systematically examines the multifaceted roles of exosomal ncRNAs in remodeling the prostate cancer tumor microenvironment, focusing on their communication between tumor cells, tumor-stromal cells (including immune cells), and within the pre-metastatic niche preceding bone metastasis. We emphasize their mechanisms of action and clinical relevance. These findings position exosomal ncRNAs as central drivers of prostate cancer progression, revealing novel diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. Future research must address challenges in standardizing exosome isolation techniques, resolving spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and advancing clinical translation to fully realize the potential of exosome-based strategies in precision oncology.
Keywords: Exosomes, non-coding RNA, prostate cancer, Tumor Microenvironment, Immunemicroenvironment
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Duan, Luo, Luo, Chen and Zou. 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: Huanglin Duan, gyluopeiyue@163.com
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