Membrane-Bound Mechanisms of Intercellular Communication in Healthy and Cancerous Tissues: Extracellular vesicles, Cytonemes and Tunneling Nanotubes

Dear Colleagues,

For multicellular organisms to form and function, cells must communicate and interact with their neighbors in a specific and effective way. Similarly, for cancer to develop and spread locally and at a distance, intercellular communication is of paramount importance. If we could specifically interfere with intercellular communication in the cancer microenvironment, without disrupting communication between healthy cells in other parts of the body, we could consider developing new therapeutic strategies. To this end, it is essential to learn the molecular and biological mechanisms of intercellular communication in healthy and cancerous tissues. Intercellular communication mechanisms dependent on membrane structures have recently attracted attention, particularly with the burst of scientific literature in the field of extracellular membrane vesicles (EVs). The role of EVs as a vehicle-like device in intercellular communication appears to be an important multifaceted regulator of tumor progression. For example, EVs derived from cancer cells, generally released in greater numbers than those of normal proliferative cells, can modulate immune responses at different levels, transfer oncogenic proteins and nucleic acids, reprogram stromal cells, promote neo-angiogenesis, and transfer the drug-resistance phenotype. Despite the abundance of reports highlighting these EV-related events in cancer, there is little mechanistic knowledge of the intracellular pathways of EVs upon their internalization, the mechanism(s) of cargo release, and their molecular target(s) located in cytoplasm and nuclear compartment of host cells. Similarly, other membrane-bound structures, such as cytonemes and tunneling nanotubes, have become new biological mechanisms for disseminating biological information from one cell to another in a tissue. Such long, plasma membrane protrusions rich in F-actin that connect cells at short or long distances could be linked to the development of cancer.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide novel insight into the membrane-bound structures involved in intercellular communication, including EVs such as exosomes, microvesicles, and other extracellular membrane particles, as well as plasma membrane projections, including cytonemes and tunneling nanotubes. Colleagues working on these themes and developing new technological tools to study them are invited to submit research articles, reviews, communications, perspectives, and case reports that can improve the general knowledge of this exciting field.

Prof. Aurelio Lorico
Dr. Denis Corbeil
Prof. Riccardo Alessandro
Dr. Germana Rappa
Guest Editors

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• extracellular vesicles: microvesicles, exosomes, and other membrane particles
• cytoneme and other plasma membrane projections
• tunneling nanotubes