Induction of more aggressive tumoral phenotypes in LNCaP and PC3 cells by serum exosomes from prostate cancer patients.

We aim to study the effect of exosomes isolated from the serum of patients with PCa on various cellular processes associated with increased tumor aggressiveness in two PCa cell lines: LNCaP-FGC and PC3. The presence of exosomes was confirmed by immunodetection of specific markers and their size distribution was analyzed by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS).

The results obtained demonstrated that serum exosomes from PCa patients increased migration of PC3 cells and neuroendocrine differentiation of LNCaP-FGC cells regardless of the grade of the tumor. PCa serum exosomes also enhanced the secretion of enzymes related to invasiveness and resistance to chemotherapeutics, such as extracellular matrix metalloproteases 2 and 9, and gamma-glutamyltransferase in both cell lines. These findings support the pivotal participation of exosomes released by tumoral cells in the progression of PCa.