Metastatic State of Parent Cells Influences the Uptake and Functionality of Prostate Cancer Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including microvesicles and exosomes, mediate intercellular signalling which has a profound role in cancer progression and in the development of metastasis. Internalisation of EVs can prompt functional changes in the recipient cells, the nature of which depends on the molecular composition and the cargo of the EVs. We hypothesised that the metastatic stage of cancerous parent cells would determine the uptake efficacy and the subsequent functional effects of the respective cancer cell-derived EVs. To address this question, we compared the internalisation of EVs derived from two metastatic site-derived prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and LNCaP), human telomerase reverse transcriptase immortalised primary malignant prostate epithelial cells (RC92a/hTERT), and a benign epithelial prostate cell line (PNT2). EVs isolated from the metastatic site-derived PC-3 and LNCaP cells were more efficiently internalised by the PC-3 and PNT2 cells compared to the EVs from the primary malignant RC92a/hTERT cells or the benign PNT2 cells, as determined by high content microscopy, confocal microscopy, and flow cytometry. EV uptake was also influenced by the phase of the cell cycle, so that an increased EV-derived fluorescence signal was observed in the cells at the G(2)/M phase compared to the G(0)/G(1) or S phases. Finally, differences were also observed in the functions of the recipient cells based on the EV source. Proliferation of PNT2 cells and to a lesser extent also PC-3 cells was enhanced particularly by the EVs from the metastatic-site-derived prostate cancer cells in comparison to the EVs from the benign cells or primary cancer cells, whereas migration of PC-3 cells was enhanced by all cancerous EVs.