Cells can communicate with one another to coordinate essential processes such as development, growth, and repair through the release of signaling intermediates. One class of signaling intermediates are extracellular vesicles (EVs) that contain nucleic acids and proteins that mediate cell-cell communication. In cancer, the cargo of these EVs is altered in order to promote tumor progression, improving the ability to proliferate, invade, metastasize, and develop drug resistance, among other cancer characteristics. While most EVs range in diameter from 50 nanometers to one micron, there has been an increasing interest in smaller particles that might also be released from cells and contribute to cancer. Only recently has technology evolved enough to detect these previously undiscernible nanoparticles. Qin Zhang, PhD, Robert Coffey, MD, and colleagues were motivated by previous advances in the lab regarding the role of EVs in cancer to determine if smaller particles existed with similar functions. Dr. Coffey and his team discovered a new nanoparticle, termed the supermere, with functional relevance not only to cancer but to many other diseases, resulting in a publication at the end of 2021 in Nature Cell Biology (Zhang Q et al. 2021).
