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Exosomes as novel biomarkers in metabolic disease and obesity-related cancers

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From Nature Reviews Endocrinology

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Exosomes include plasma-transported vesicles that are secreted by human tissues and reflect metabolic status. The profile of exosomes (particularly microRNA content) is altered in metabolic disease. In type 2 diabetes mellitus, exosomes circulating in plasma induce transcriptional changes related to tumour progression and pro-metastatic phenotypes in target cancer cells, potentially linking obesity to cancer progression and metastasis.

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Fig. 1: Circulating exosomes in metabolic disorders could induce tumour progression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston University–Boston Medical Center Cancer Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Naser Jafari, Pablo Llevenes & Gerald V. Denis

  2. Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Pablo Llevenes & Gerald V. Denis

  3. Section of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Gerald V. Denis

Authors
  1. Naser Jafari
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  2. Pablo Llevenes
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  3. Gerald V. Denis
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Correspondence to Gerald V. Denis.

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Competing interests

G.V.D. and N.J. are inventors on US patent 63/171,689 to use exosomes as a cancer diagnostic. P.L. declares no competing interests.

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Jafari, N., Llevenes, P. & Denis, G.V. Exosomes as novel biomarkers in metabolic disease and obesity-related cancers. Nat Rev Endocrinol 18, 327–328 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-022-00666-7

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