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. 2023 Mar 27;15(7):1992. doi: 10.3390/cancers15071992

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© 2023 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Overview of exosome biogenesis. Endocytic vesicles are generated by (1) clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), (2) caveolin-dependent endocytosis (CDE) and (3) clathrin- and caveolin-independent endocytosis. After the fusion of endocytic vesicles to form early endosomes, (4) ILVs are generated by ESCRT-dependent and ESCRT-independent pathways, resulting in the formation of multivesicular bodies (MVBs). (5) Cargoes are sorted into ILVs from various organelles, including the trans-Golgi network (TGN), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria. (6) MVBs can then fuse with lysosomes and undergo lysosomal degradation. (7) Alternatively, MVBs are trafficked towards the plasma membrane and (8) undergo membrane fusion for the extracellular release of ILVs as exosomes.