MINI REVIEW article
Front. Mol. Biosci.
Sec. Cellular Biochemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicExosomal Biomarkers: Roles in Diagnostics and Therapeutics - Volume IIIView all articles
The role of Natural Compounds in Modulation of Small Extracellular Vesicle Biogenesis and Lipid Metabolism in Cancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chair and Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- 2Student Scientific Club Explore, Chair and Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, Warsaw, Poland
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are vesicles of 15–150 nm in diameter secreted by cells and contain biological compounds that aid in cell growth, proliferation, and communication. Over the years, their role in oncogenesis has become prominent, especially in modulating the tumor microenvironment, facilitating epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and promoting metastasis. These oncosomes serve as unique diagnostic markers that can be used to detect specific types of cancer. Their stable lipid bilayer is composed of various classes of lipids, including phosphatidylserine, sphingomyelin, ceramides, and sterols. Alterations in the lipid profile of sEVs have been found in various chronic diseases, including cancers, making them suitable biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Natural compounds (NCs) derived from plants and microbes exhibit antitumorigenic properties. They have been recognized in contemporary medicine for their capacity to modulate sEV synthesis, secretion, and composition. However, there is limited research on the effects of NCs on the lipid panel of extracellular vesicles, as most studies have focused on proteins and microRNAs. Considering that NCs can influence key regulatory enzymes involved in lipogenesis and degradation, this suggests a potential impact on the lipid composition of sEVs. Therefore, we summarized the direct effects of NCs on sEVs and lipid-related enzymes, highlighting the potential for natural compound-mediated lipid modulation in sEVs.
Keywords: Small extracellular vesicle, natural compound, Lipid Metabolism, tumor progression, cancer treatment
Received: 17 Oct 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lim, Santhakumar, Mielczarek-Puta and Skrzycki. 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: Michał Skrzycki, michal.skrzycki@wum.edu.pl
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.