Table 1.

Overview on the function of exosomes in cancer

Exosomal cargo	Secreting cell	Recipient cell	Function	Reference
EGFRvIII	Glioblastoma cells	Glioblastoma cells	Promotes tumor cell growth	[26]
Angiogenin, IL-8, VEGF	Glioblastoma cells	Endothelial cells	Promotes tube formation	[75]
∆Np73	Colon cancer cells	Colon cancer cells	Promotes tumor cell proliferation and therapy resistance	[27]
KRAS	Colon cancer cells (mutant KRAS)	Colon cancer cells (wild-type KRAS)	Enhances tumor cell growth	[97]
MET	Melanoma cells (highly metastatic)	Bone marrow progenitor cells	Promotes tumor growth and metastasis	[39]
HIF-1α	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells (EBV-positive)	NPC cells (EBV-negative)	Promotes tumor cell migration and invasion	[37]
αvβ6 Integrin	Prostate cancer cells	Prostate cancer cells	Promotes tumor cell migration	[98]
Survivin	Cervical cancer cells	Cervical cancer cells	Inhibits genotoxic stress-induced apoptosis and promotes cell proliferation	[25, 99]
Wnt5a	Macrophages	Breast cancer cells	Enhances tumor cell invasion	[100]
Wnt3a	Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma side population (SP) cells	Neighboring non-SP cells	Modulates SP–non-SP transition and promotes tumor progression	[24]
FasL	Activated CD8+ T cells	Melanoma cells, lung cancer cells	Induces MMP9 expression and promotes lung metastasis	[43]
IL-6, CCL2, fibronectin	Multiple myeloma (MM) BM-MSCs	MM cells	Promotes tumor cell growth	[29]
Hsp72	Murine thymoma, mammary carcinoma, colon carcinoma cells	MDSCs	Induces immunosuppression and enhances tumor growth	[63]
TF	Squamous cells, colon cancer cells	Endothelial cells	Promotes coagulation	[71]
CD39, CD73	Bladder, colorectal, prostate, breast cancer cells	T cells	Induces adenosine production and inhibits T cell activation	[101]
TGF-β	Mesothelioma, prostate, bladder, colorectal, breast cancer cells	Fibroblasts	Induces myofibroblast differentiation and promotes tumor angiogenesis and growth	[66, 67]
TGF-β	Prostate cancer, gastric cancer	MSCs	Induces myofibroblast differentiation and promotes angiogenesis and invasiveness	[68, 102]
TGF-β	Pleural effusions of mesothelioma patients	NK cells, CD8+ T cells	Downregulates NKG2D expression and impairs cell killing activity	[103]
MICA*008	Cervical cancer cells	NK cells	Decreases NKG2D expression and reduces NK cytotoxicity	[104]
TGF-β, PGE2	Murine mammary adenocarcinoma cells	Bone marrow myeloid cells (CD11b+Ly6G+)	Induces MDSCs accumulation and immunosuppression	[61]
CCL20	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells	Regulatory T cells	Recruits and induces Treg conversion	[59]
KIT	Mast cells	Lung cancer cells	Accelerates cell proliferation	[105]
KIT	Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) cells	Progenitor smooth muscle cells	Increases tumor invasiveness	[40]
Wnt11	Fibroblasts	Breast cancer cells	Promotes tumor metastasis	[42]
MIF	Pancreatic cancer cells	Liver Kupffer cells	Promotes metastasis	[47]
Hsp70	Renal cancer cells (murine Renca cell line)	MDSCs	Induces MDSCs activation and enhances tumor growth	[106]
Adrenomedullin	Pancreatic cancer cells	Adipocytes	Promotes lipolysis	[107]
S1P, CCL20, PGE2	Enteropathogenic bacteria-stimulated intestinal epithelial cells	Th17 cells	Promotes the development of colon cancer	[108]
miR-9	Lung cancer, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, glioblastoma, colorectal cancer cells	Endothelial cells	Induces tumor angiogenesis	[109]
miR-125b, 130b, 155	Prostate cancer (PC) cells	PC patient adipose-derived stem cells (pASCs)	Induces neoplastic transformation	[22]
miR-135b	Multiple myeloma cells (under chronic hypoxia condition)	Endothelial cells	Enhances endothelial tube formation	[36]
miR-10b	Metastatic breast cancer cells	Mammary epithelial cells	Promotes cell migration	[110]
miR-92a	Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells	Endothelial cells	Promotes cell migration and tube formation	[35]
miR-210	CML cells (under hypoxia condition)	Endothelial cells	Promotes angiogenic activity	[34]
miR-223	IL-4-activated macrophages	Breast cancer cells	Promotes cell invasion	[44]
miR-222	Drug-resistant breast cancer cells	Drug-sensitive breast cancer cells	Transmits chemoresistance	[111]
miR-584, 517c, 378	Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells	HCC cells	Promotes HCC cell growth and metastasis	[112]
miR-21, 29a	Lung cancer cells	Macrophages	Promotes tumor metastasis	[46]
miR-105	Metastatic breast cancer cells	Endothelial cells	Destroys tight junction, induces vascular permeability, and promotes metastasis	[33]
Pre-miRNAs, RISC-loading complex	Breast cancer cells	Non-tumorigenic epithelial cells	Induces cell transformation	[23]
miR-24-3p, 891a, 106a-5p, 20a-5p, 1908	Nasopharyngeal carcinoma	T cells	Promotes T cell dysfunction and tumor progression	[60]
miR-221, 222	Gastric cancer tissue derived MSCs	Gastric cancer cells	Enhances tumor cell migration	[60]
miR-122	Breast cancer cells	Lung fibroblasts, brain astrocytes, and neurons	Reprograms systemic energy metabolism and facilitates metastasis	[113]
miR-23b	Bladder cancer cells (cellular disposal by exosome release)	None	Acquires metastatic potential	[38]
miR-503	Endothelial cells	Breast cancer cells	Impairs tumor cell growth	[114]
miR-140	Preadipocytes	Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) cells	Enhances tumorigenesis	[115]
miR-127, 197, 222, 223	Bone marrow stromal cells	Breast cancer cells	Decreases cell proliferation and induces cell quiescence	[116]
TUC339	Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells	HCC cells	Promotes tumor cell growth and inhibits cell adhesion	[81]
Linc-ROR	HCC cells	HCC cells	Reduces chemotherapy sensitivity	[82]