Abstract 5135: Exosomes released by K562 chronic myeloid leukemia cells promote endothelial cell tubular differentiation through uptake and cell-to-cell transfer

Abstract We hypothesized that exosomes were a venue through which to transfer pro-angiogenic stimuli into and between endothelial cells during endothelial cell tubular differentiation. Exosomes are microvesicles of endocytic origin released by most normal and tumor cells that play an important role in cell-to-cell communication. Angiogenesis is recognized to be a factor in progression of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, the mechanism through which this happens has not been elucidated. We first optimized and characterized secretion of exosomes from CML K562 cells, showing expected selective enrichment of exosomal markers CD63, CD81 and Tsg101 in exosomes compared to the K562 whole ce…