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World J Clin Urol. Mar 24, 2016; 5(1): 18-23
Published online Mar 24, 2016. doi: 10.5410/wjcu.v5.i1.18
Bladder cancer exosomes: Getting the message across
Claudia Berrondo, Thomas Osinski, Carla J Beckham
Claudia Berrondo, Carla J Beckham, Department of Urology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, Unites States
Thomas Osinski, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, Unites States
Author contributions: Berrondo C contributed to conception, literature review, drafting, editing and final approval of the final version; Osinski T contributed to drafting and final approval of the final version; Beckham CJ contributed to conception, literature review, editing and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Carla J Beckham, MD, PhD, Assistant professor, Department of Urology, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642, United States. carla_beckham@urmc.rochester.edu
Telephone: +1-585-2089866 Fax: +1-585-2731068
Received: August 24, 2015
Peer-review started: August 26, 2015
First decision: September 28, 2015
Revised: October 13, 2015
Accepted: January 5, 2016
Article in press: January 7, 2016
Published online: March 24, 2016
Processing time: 207 Days and 9.4 Hours
Abstract

Bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in men and the seventeenth most common in women. It is also the most expensive cancer to treat over the lifetime of a patient, partially due to the necessity of frequent cystoscopy to monitor for tumor recurrence. There have also been no new developments for the treatment of bladder cancer in the last several decades. Exosomes are small, secreted, membrane-bound vesicles representative of the donor cell. Increasing understanding of the role of exosomes in cancer biology has inspired interest in their potential use as a non-invasive diagnostic tool, prognostic markers and/or indicator of recurrence of bladder cancer, and even for use in the treatment of bladder cancer. Exosomes can be readily isolated from urine. Several groups have already demonstrated differences in the protein and micro RNA content of exosomes in bladder cancer patients compared to normal healthy volunteers. Furthermore, cancer cell-derived exosomes mediate tumor progression through the delivery of their biologically active content to recipient cells. Exosomes may be useful for the delivery of targeted molecules for the treatment of bladder cancer.

Keywords: Bladder cancer; Cystoscopy; Exosome; Biomarker; Urine

Core tip: Exosomes are small membrane-bound vesicles representative of their donor cell. There is growing interest in understanding the function of exosomes in diseases such as cancer. Because of their unique properties, there is developing interest in using exosomes as biomarkers, and as a therapeutic modality in cancer. There is a critical need for affordable, non-invasive methods for diagnosis and monitoring for recurrence of bladder cancer as well as novel therapeutic options. Exosomes have the potential to meet these needs. In this review, we explore what is currently known about exosomes and their role in bladder cancer.