Drug resistance is a major impediment in cancer therapy which strongly reduces the efficiency of anti-cancer drugs. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles with cup or spherical shape with a size range of 40–150 nm released by eukaryotic cells that contain genetic materials, proteins, and lipids which mediate a specific cell-to-cell communication. The potential roles of exosomes in intrinsic and acquired drug resistance have been reported in several studies. Furthermore, a line of evidence suggested that the content of exosomes released from tumor cells in biological samples may be associated with the clinical outcomes of cancer patients. In this review, we highlighted the recent studies regarding the potential roles of exosomes in tumor initiation, progression, and chemoresistance. This study suggests the possible role of exosomes for drug delivery and their contents in prognosis and resistance to chemotherapy in cancer patients.

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外来体在癌症耐药中的潜在作用和预后意义

耐药性是癌症治疗中的主要障碍，它极大地降低了抗癌药物的效率。外泌体是由真核细胞释放的杯状或球形，大小范围为40-150 nm的细胞外囊泡，这些真核细胞包含介导特定细胞间通讯的遗传物质，蛋白质和脂质。外泌体在内在和获得性耐药中的潜在作用已在几项研究中报道。此外，有证据表明，生物样品中肿瘤细胞释放的外泌体含量可能与癌症患者的临床结局有关。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了有关外泌体在肿瘤发生，进展和化学耐药中潜在作用的最新研究。