JLE

Bulletin du Cancer

MENU

Exosomes and anti‐tumour immunotherapy Volume 90, issue 8, Août 2003

Authors
Unité d‘immunologie, Département de biologie clinique, Institut Gustave‐Roussy, 39 rue Camille‐Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif Département de dermatologie 2, AP‐HP Hôpital Saint‐Louis, Paris. Département de médecine, Institut Gustave‐Roussy, 39 rue Camille‐ Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif

Exosomes are 60 to 90 nm membrane vesicles originating from late endosomes and secreted from most hematopoietic and epithelial cells in vitro. B cell derived‐exosome antigenicity was first reported in 1996 in MHC class II restricted CD4+ T lymphocytes. In 1998, we reported that dendritic cell derived‐exosomes are immunogenic in mice leading to tumor rejection. These findings have renewed the interest in exosomes. The current challenge consists in understanding the mechanisms and the physiological relevance of exosomes that could contribute to the design of the optimal exosome based‐vaccination. Here, we will focus on the biological features pertaining to dendritic cell‐ and tumor cell derived‐exosomes and will discuss their potential clinical implementation.