Background: The release of microvesicles (MVs) is an essential phenomenon for inter-cellular signaling in health and disease. The role of MVs in cancer is multidimensional and includes cancer cell survival, proliferation, and invasion. In this prospective study, we analyzed MV levels in colorectal cancer patients and assessed the importance of MV release in early-stage colorectal cancer and survival. Methods: This study included 98 patients and 15 controls. The characterization of MVs from human plasma was performed by flow cytometry using monoclonal antibodies. Results: The levels of total MVs and MUC-1-positive, tissue factor (TF)-positive, and endothelial cell-derived MVs (EMVs) were statistically significantly higher in the colon cancer patients than in the controls (p< 0.001). Furthermore, the subgroup of patients with very early-stage colorectal cancer also had statistically significant differences in the levels of the abovementioned MVs compared to the controls (p< 0.01). Highly differentiated tumors had lower levels of MUC-1-positive MVs (p< 0.02), EMVs (p< 0.002), and EMV/TF combinations (p< 0.001) versus those with tumors with low/intermediate differentiation. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that the analysis of circulating MV levels in plasma could possibly become a tool for the early diagnosis of colon cancer at a very early stage of the disease.
背景：微囊泡（MVs）的释放是健康与疾病状态下细胞间信号传递的重要现象。微囊泡在癌症中的作用是多维度的，涉及癌细胞存活、增殖和侵袭。在这项前瞻性研究中，我们分析了结直肠癌患者的微囊泡水平，并评估了微囊泡释放在早期结直肠癌及患者生存中的重要性。方法：本研究纳入98例患者和15例对照者。通过流式细胞术使用单克隆抗体对人血浆中的微囊泡进行表征分析。结果：结直肠癌患者的总微囊泡水平、MUC-1阳性微囊泡、组织因子（TF）阳性微囊泡以及内皮细胞源性微囊泡（EMVs）水平均显著高于对照组（p<0.001）。此外，极早期结直肠癌患者亚组的上述微囊泡水平与对照组相比也存在统计学显著差异（p<0.01）。与低/中分化肿瘤患者相比，高分化肿瘤患者的MUC-1阳性微囊泡（p<0.02）、内皮细胞源性微囊泡（p<0.002）及内皮细胞源性微囊泡/组织因子复合体（p<0.001）水平均较低。结论：我们的数据表明，血浆循环微囊泡水平分析可能成为极早期结直肠癌诊断的一种潜在工具。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家