Extracellular Vesicles: A New Prospective in Crosstalk between Microenvironment and Stem Cells in Hematological Malignancies

Figure 1

A schematic drawing of neoplasm EV effects in BM of HMs. Tumor EVs (colored balls) can (1) render malignancy more aggressive through autocrine mechanisms via (2) the induction of a suppression of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) functions and a stem cell malignant transformation and (3) modification of mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) reducing their HSC support. On the other hand, “reprogrammed” MSCs release EVs that (4) support the proliferation of malignancy cell proliferation and (5) promote HSPC viability and clonogenicity. In addition, leukemia stem cell EVs induce proliferation and migration of malignant cells (6). Arrows turned upwards (∧) and downwards (∨) indicate an increase and a reduction, respectively.