Lung cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Its prognosis becomes even worse when it co-occurs with other diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Both illnesses have numerous shared risk factors, including the use of tobacco smoke, and have similar underlying mechanisms like long-term inflammation. There are some other less studied but equally important molecules, like small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), that have been shown to mediate effective communication at the cellular level and may affect the progression of a disease or cause resistance to therapies. In sEVs from lung cancer tumors, there are onco-proteins (e.g., tumor initiator EGFR mutations, onco-miR, miR-21), while in sEVs from patients with COPD, there are pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-α that enhance airway inflammation. These potential biomarkers of sEVs from chronic lung disease have great value in defense against emerging health problems; however, limitations in sample extraction and analysis are obstacles that hinder clinical enhanced applicability. This review focuses on sEV-derived biomarkers in lung cancer and COPD for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic monitoring purposes. To make these molecules more useful in real-life therapy and determine their signature’s role, further investigation with a high-scale study is necessary.
肺癌是最致命的癌症类型之一。当与其他疾病如慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）共存时，其预后会进一步恶化。这两种疾病具有许多共同的风险因素，包括吸烟，并存在相似的潜在机制，如长期炎症。此外，还有一些研究较少但同样重要的分子，如小细胞外囊泡（sEVs），已被证明能在细胞水平介导有效的通讯，并可能影响疾病进展或导致治疗抵抗。在肺癌肿瘤来源的sEVs中，存在癌蛋白（例如肿瘤启动因子EGFR突变、癌性miR、miR-21），而在COPD患者的sEVs中，则含有促炎细胞因子如IL-6和TNF-α，这些因子会加剧气道炎症。这些来自慢性肺部疾病的sEVs潜在生物标志物在应对新出现的健康问题方面具有重要价值；然而，样本提取和分析方面的局限性阻碍了其临床应用的进一步推广。本综述重点关注肺癌和COPD中sEVs来源的生物标志物，用于诊断、预后和治疗监测目的。为了使这些分子在实际治疗中更具应用价值并明确其特征作用，有必要通过大规模研究进行进一步探索。
Whispers in the Lungs: Small Extracellular Vesicles in Lung Cancer and COPD Crosstalk
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家