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World J Clin Cases. Jun 26, 2021; 9(18): 4467-4479
Published online Jun 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i18.4467
Roles of exosomes in diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer
Yvette Umwali, Cong-Bo Yue, Abakundana Nsenga Ariston Gabriel, Yi Zhang, Xin Zhang
Yvette Umwali, Cong-Bo Yue, Yi Zhang, Xin Zhang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Qilu Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Abakundana Nsenga Ariston Gabriel, Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Umwali Y drafted the manuscript; Yue CB and Gabriel ANA collected the information; Zhang X and Zhang Y designed and revised the manuscript; Zhang X and Zhang Y are co-corresponding authors; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81972005; Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, No. ZR2020MH238; and Shandong Medical and Health Technology Development Project, No. 2018WSB20002.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The 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: Xin Zhang, FRS, MD, PhD, Academic Fellow, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, No. 107 Wenhua West Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China. xinzhang@sdu.edu.cn
Received: January 22, 2021
Peer-review started: January 22, 2021
First decision: February 28, 2021
Revised: March 15, 2021
Accepted: May 6, 2021
Article in press: May 6, 2021
Published online: June 26, 2021
Processing time: 139 Days and 22.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that mediate intercellular communication. They contain molecules such as RNAs, DNA, lipids, and proteins, whose role is essential in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Exosomes derived from CRC are implicated in tumorigenesis, chemotherapy resistance, and metastasis. Besides, they can enhance CRC progression by increasing tumor cell proliferation, reducing apoptosis mechanistically through upregulation or downregulation of particular essential regulatory genes, or controlling several signaling pathways. Therefore, exosomes derived from CRCs are essential biomarkers and can be used in the diagnosis.