Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 7, 2021; 27(41): 7080-7099
Published online Nov 7, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i41.7080
Role of cell-free network communication in alcohol-associated disorders and liver metastasis
Murali R Kuracha, Peter Thomas, Martin Tobi, Benita L McVicker
Murali R Kuracha, Benita L McVicker, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, United States
Peter Thomas, Department of Surgery, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE 68178, United States
Martin Tobi, Research and Development Service, Detroit VAMC, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Martin Tobi, Department of Medicine, Central Michigan University College of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Benita L McVicker, Research Service, Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, Omaha, NE 68105, United States
Author contributions: Kuracha MR and McVicker BL wrote the paper; Thomas P and Tobi M made critical revisions; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development, VA Office of Research and Development, No. BX004127 (to McVicker BL and Tobi M).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Benita L McVicker, PhD, Research Scientist, Research Service, Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, 4101 Woolworth Ave, Omaha, NE 68105, United States. benita.mcvicker@va.gov
Received: May 15, 2021
Peer-review started: May 15, 2021
First decision: June 22, 2021
Revised: July 2, 2021
Accepted: September 30, 2021
Article in press: September 30, 2021
Published online: November 7, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Alcohol consumption is an independent risk factor for cancer development as well as the promotion of metastatic disease, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. The identification of mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets for metastases remains to be determined for many cancers. Interorgan communication involving extracellular vesicles (EVs) is considered a vital process in the promotion of tumorigenic pathways and the spread of disease. Understanding the role of EVs in organ-organ communication networks will likely contribute to the development of future opportunities to combat cancer metastasis.