Extracellular vesicles as surrogated biomarkers of Prostate Cancer metabolism. A metabolomics approach to study their role in prostate cancer progression

Abstract

Prostate cancer is an exclusive disease suffered by men which signifies an important thread upon aging. Indeed, it causes a huge socioeconomic impact due to the lack of sensitive and specific diagnostic tools to surveil early stages during disease progression. Prostate cancer is a multifocal with several molecular and histopathological arrangements. Even though many of the different underlying mechanisms of progression have been studied, the physiological drivers and consequences in the disease’s evolution are not fully understood. Prostate cancer grows and further invades adjacent tissues; upon progression, it exhibits a wide variety of metabolic, proteomic and transcriptomic landscapes. This heterogeneity provides a high flexibility and adaptability to treatments and complicates its diagnosis. The interaction between cells is imperative for a disease to progress. In 1967, Peter Wolf was the first scientist to report a new subcellular structure, mammalian-like vesicles secreted by cells. Nowadays, these secreted vesicles are considered important cell-to-cell communica-tion players and they are known as the extracellular vesicles. Extracellular vesicles are bilayer lipid containers secreted by most cell types to extracellular space. They are multi-purpose carriers, nano- to micrometre-sized, that can carry lipids, proteins, metabolites, sugars, RNA and even DNA. They are highly heterogeneous with a diversity of biogenesis pathways that govern partly their composition. Both surface molecules and their internal cargo can trigger intracellular signalling processes that activate downstream physiological responses i.e. cell maturation, coagulation or establishment of pre-metastatic niche in recipient cells, among others.