Making a sPLAsh: The expanding repertoire of EV signaling

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their cargo act as signaling moieties by transferring their cargo to recipient cells, thereby mediating intercellular communication in complex tissue environments such as the tumor microenvironment. In the accompanying paper, Kudo et al. describe the interaction between tumor EVs and soluble phospholipase released by macrophages, leading to the remodeling of EV membranes and the release of lipid mediators that facilitate tumor growth by inducing an immune-tolerant phenotype.