Pancreatic cancer stem cell markers and exosomes - the incentive push

Figure 3 Cancer stem cells supporting activities of Tspan8. A: The structure of Tspan8 showing the prominent large extracellular loop, which is the main binding site for laterally associated molecules; B: Dominant partners of Tspan8 and CD151 are integrins and proteases. Tspan8 and CD151 also associate with RTK, CD44v6 and EpCAM. The integrin associations promote CSC motility, the RTK associations survival and the protease associations invasiveness: C: the strongest contribution of Tspan8 in support of CSC relies on its engagement in GEM complex located molecule internalization. Tspan8 is also involved in vesicle traffic. The importance of Tspan8 in CSC is linked to recruiting additional CSC markers into GEM and in contributing to the transfer of the GEM complex into TEX. CSC: Cancer stem cells; GEM: Glycolipid-enriched microdomains; MVB: Multivesicular bodies; PKC: Phophokinase C; RTK: Receptor tyrosine kinase.