Figure 1.

Glioblastoma-derived extracellular vesicles as mediators of intercellular communication. Cartoon schematizing the crosstalk between glioblastoma cancer stem cells (GSCs) and major cellular components of glioblastoma (GBM) tumor microenvironment (TME) surrounding GBM stem cell niche. In detail, GSCs can establish a dynamic and continuous interaction with resident (endothelial cells, pericytes, astrocytes) and infiltrating cells (macrophages, T cells) of TME by releasing extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as microvesicles and exosomes. Remarkably, the abundant release of EVs is tightly intermingled with mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) hyper-activation and subsequent autophagy suppression, which are key in promoting GSC self-renewal and proliferation.