The Malignant Role of Exosomes as Nanocarriers of Rare RNA Species
Publisher's version (útgefin grein) ; Nowadays, advancements in the oncology sector regarding diagnosis methods allow us to specifically detect an increased number of cancer patients, some of them in incipient stages. However, one of the main issues consists of the invasive character of most of the diagnosis protocols or complex medical procedures associated with it, that impedes part of the patients to undergo routine checkups. Therefore, in order to increase the number of cancer cases diagnosed in incipient stages, other minimally invasive alternatives must be considered. The current review paper presents the value of rare RNA species isolated from circulatory exosomes as biomarkers of diagnosis, prognosis or even therapeutic intervention. Rare RNAs are most of the time overlooked in current research in favor of the more abundant RNA species like microRNAs. However, their high degree of stability, low variability and, for most of them, conservation across species could shift the interest toward these types of RNAs. Moreover, due to their low abundance, the variation interval in terms of the number of sequences with differential expression between samples from healthy individuals and cancer patients is significantly diminished and probably easier to interpret in a clinical context. ; This research was funded by three national research grants from the Romanian Government: the first one awarded for Frontiers Research Projects 2018-2022 (grant number PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-112) to Babes Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, in collaboration with the Ion Chiricuta Oncology Institute, Cluj-Napoca; the second one awarded for Young Research Teams 2020-2022 (grant number PN-III-P1-1.1-TE2019-0271) to Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, and the third one awarded for Postdoctoral Research Projects 2020-2022 (grant number PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2019-0805) to Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca. The APC was funded by an international collaborative grant from the European Economic Space between Romania and Iceland 2020-2022 (grant number 19-COP-0031). ; "Peer Reviewed"