Extracellular vesicles: General features and usefulness in diagnosis and therapeutic management of colorectal cancer

Figure 3 Bidirectional communications between tumor cells and their surrounding environment. Tumor microenvironment is a complex and dynamic network that include tumor (TC), stromal (SC), immune (tumor associated macrophages, TAM) and endothelial cells (EC). TC can bidirectionally signal to each other through extracellular vesicles (EVs) production. TC can produce EVs that will regulate SCs and TAMs differentiation and activity. SCs as well as TCs can regulate ECs activity, especially in hypoxic situations. TAMs and ECs can cooperate to promote angiogenesis. TC: Tumor cells; EC: Endothelial cells; SC: Stromal cells; TAMs: Tumor associated macrophages.