Exosome-mediated crosstalk between chronic myelogenous leukemia cells and human bone marrow stromal cells triggers an interleukin 8-dependent survival of leukemia cells.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder characterized by the Bcr-Abl oncoprotein with constitutive tyrosine kinase activity. Exosomes are nanovesicles released by cancer cells that are involved in cell-to-cell communication thus potentially affecting cancer progression. It is well known that bone marrow stromal microenvironment contributes to disease progression through the establishment of a bi-directional crosstalk with cancer cells. Our hypothesis is that exosomes could have a functional role in this crosstalk. Interleukin-8 (IL 8) is a proinflammatory chemokine that activates multiple signalling pathways downstream of two receptors (CXCR1 and CXCR2). We demonstrated that exosomes released from CML cells stimulate bone marrow stromal cells to produce IL 8 that, in turn, is able to modulate both in vitro and in vivo the leukemia cell malignant phenotype.