Blebs and former blebs: From surface protrusions to extracellular vesicles in cancer signalling, anoikis resistance and beyond

Abstract

Abstract Associations between plasma membrane blebbing and metastatic progression have been widely reported. There are also reports of increased extracellular vesicle (EV) release from cancer cells. Yet the ties between these closely related phenomena are incompletely understood. In this commentary, we remark on a recent finding on cellular membrane blebs in melanoma signalling. We discuss possible implications for cancer biology and draw parallels to knowns and unknowns in the relationships of EVs and cancer progression.

Keywords

• anoikis
• cancer
• ectosomes
• exosomes
• extracellular matrix
• extracellular vesicles