Publications by authors named "Maria Letizia Vittorelli"
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how neoplastic cells release membrane vesicles that may carry tumor antigens, particularly focusing on breast cancer biomarkers that could be found in the blood of patients.
- Exosome-like vesicles (ELVs) were isolated from breast cancer cell cultures and analyzed for their structural and protein composition, revealing distinct differences from whole cell lysates.
- The findings suggest that these vesicles could influence cancer progression by interacting with various cell types, potentially boosting tumor growth or affecting immune responses in the surrounding environment.
Expression of sphingosine kinase-1 (SphK-1) correlates with a poor survival rate of tumor patients. This effect is probably due to the ability of SphK-1 to be released into the extracellular medium where it catalyzes the biosynthesis of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a signaling molecule endowed with profound proangiogenic effects. SphK-1 is a leaderless protein which is secreted by an unconventional mechanism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have previously reported how the release of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) is mediated by shed vesicles. In the present study, we address the question of how newly synthesized FGF-2 is targeted to the budding vesicles. Considering that in vitro cultured Sk-Hep1 hepatocarcinoma cells release FGF-2 and shed membrane vesicles only when cultured in the presence of serum, we added serum to starved cells and monitored intracellular movements of the growth factor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), a polypeptide with regulatory activity on cell growth and differentiation, lacks a conventional secretory signal sequence, and its mechanism of release from cells remains unclear. We characterized the role of extracellular vesicle shedding in FGF-2 release. Viable cells released membrane vesicles in the presence of serum.
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