Extracellular vesicles in oral squamous cell carcinoma: current progress and future prospect

Yanqi Zhang; Jianing Liu; Shiyu Liu; Lu Yu; Siying Liu; Meng Li; Fang Jin

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1149662

Extracellular vesicles in oral squamous cell carcinoma: current progress and future prospect

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 May 26:11:1149662. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1149662. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yanqi Zhang^{1

2}, Jianing Liu^{1

2}, Shiyu Liu², Lu Yu³, Siying Liu¹, Meng Li^{2

4}, Fang Jin¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Military Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Shaanxi International Joint Research Center for Oral Diseases, Center for Tissue Engineering, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
³ Department of Periodontology, Shandong Key Laboratory of Oral Tissue Regeneration, Shandong Engineering Laboratory for Dental Materials and Oral Tissue Regeneration, Shandong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
⁴ Department of Prosthodontics, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most aggressive oral and maxillofacial malignancy with a high incidence and low survival rate. OSCC is mainly diagnosed by tissue biopsy, which is a highly traumatic procedure with poor timeliness. Although there are various options for treating OSCC, most of them are invasive and have unpredictable therapeutic outcomes. Generally, early diagnosis and noninvasive treatment cannot be always satisfied simultaneously in OSCC. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are involved in intercellular communication. EVs facilitate disease progression and reflect the location and status of the lesions. Therefore, EVs are relatively less invasive diagnostic tools for OSCC. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which EVs are involved in tumorigenesis and tumor treatment have been well studied. This article dissects the involvement of EVs in the diagnosis, development, and treatment of OSCC, providing new insight into the treatment of OSCC by EVs. Different mechanisms, such as inhibiting EV internalization by OSCC cells and constructing engineered vesicles, with potential applications for treating OSCC will be discussed in this review article.

Keywords: diagnosis; extracellular vesicles; oral squamous cell carcinoma; treatment; tumorigenesis.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 82170988), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFA11044003), and Chinese Stomatological Association Youth Clinical Research Foundation for Orthodontics (grant number CSA-02020-01).