Extracellular Vesicle microRNAs in the Crosstalk Between Cancer Cells and Natural Killer (NK) Cells

TL;DR

This paper explores how microRNAs in extracellular vesicles mediate communication between cancer cells and natural killer cells, influencing immune responses and cancer progression.

Contribution

The paper highlights the novel role of EV miRs in both enhancing NK cell activity and enabling cancer immune escape.

Findings

NK cell-derived EVs contribute to anti-tumoral activity through miR cargo.

Cancer cell EVs impair NK cell function via miR transfer.

EV miRs play a central role in immune crosstalk and cancer progression.

Abstract

The term extracellular vesicles (EVs) includes a variety of anucleated, non-self-replicative particles released by cells, whose cargo content is compartmentalized by a lipidic bilayer membrane and includes proteins, DNA, and RNA (both coding and non-coding) molecules. MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNA involved in gene expression regulation that functionally participate in inter-cellular communication as EV cargo. Natural Killer (NK) cells are innate immunity lymphocytes specialized in the killing of cancer cells and virally infected cells. Increasing evidence shows that NK cell-derived EVs contribute to the anti-tumoral activity of NK cells and that such effects are, at least in part, mediated by the miR cargo of these EVs. Conversely, cancer cells release EVs whose cargo includes proteins and miRs that impair NK cell function. These interactions highlight a central role for EV miRs both in the NK-mediated cytotoxicity and as a major immune-escape mechanism for cancer cells, ultimately contributing to the overall success or failure of NK cells in eliciting their anti-tumoral activity.

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