Exosomal noncoding RNAs in cholangiocarcinoma: Laboratory noise or hope?

Figure 1 Biogenesis and release of exosomes. Initial formation of the late endosome from early endosome. Subsequently, the late endosome transforms to multivesicular bodies. The latest can either get degraded by lysosomes or release exosomes to the extracellular environment following fusion with the cellular membrane. MVB: Multivesicular body.

Figure 2 Functional roles of exosomes in cholangiocarcinoma. Tumor-derived exosomes are released to the tumor microenvironment and distant organs transferring bioactive molecules and thus regulating several cancer-related processes such as epithelial-mesenchymal transition, drug resistance, pre-metastatic niche formation, angiogenesis and tumor immunity. EMT: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition.