Exosomes have emerged as a novel approach for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer after RNA content was discovered in exosomes in 2007. As important meditators of intercellular communication, exosomes have become a strong focus of investigation for researchers in the past decade, as witnessed through the exponential increase of research on exosomes. The capability of exosomes to transfer functionally active cargo highlights their importance as promising biomarkers and diagnostic molecules, as well as prospective drug delivery systems. The accessibility of exosomes in nearly all biofluids additionally alludes to its unprecedented ability in various types of cancers due to its extensive impact on tumor formation and progression. This review analyzes the role of exosomal long RNA species, which is comprised of mRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA, in tumor formation and progression, with an emphasis on their potential as future diagnostic biomarkers and treatment vectors in cancer biology. Their alignment with the development of exosomal databases is further examined in this review, in view of the accumulation of studies published on exosomes in the past decade.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have important roles in various biological processes. Our previous work has revealed that dedifferentiation of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells contributes to the pathology of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Herein, we show roles of lncRNAs in RPE differentiation. We used microarray to identify lncRNA expression profiles in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and hiPSC-derived RPE cells. A total of 217 differentially expressed lncRNAs along with the differentiation were initially identified, among which 13 lncRNAs showed a consistent fold change of over 2. LncRNA ZNF503-AS1, located in the cytoplasm of RPE cells, was found consistently upregulated along with RPE differentiation, and downregulated in the RPE-choroid of AMD patients. In vitro study further suggested that ZNF503-AS1 insufficiency could inhibit RPE differentiation, and promote its proliferation and migration. As ZNF503-AS1 is transcribed from the antisense strand of the ZNF503 gene locus, we further revealed its regulatory role in ZNF503 expression. ZNF503-AS1 was reversely correlated with ZNF503 expression. Our results also suggested that ZNF503 could inhibit RPE differentiation, and promote its proliferation and migration. Thus, ZNF503-AS1 potentially promotes RPE differentiation through downregulation of ZNF503 expression. In addition, nuclear factor-κB was recognized as a potential upstream transcript factor for ZNF503-AS1, which might participate in promoting RPE differentiation by regulating the expression of ZNF503-AS1. Taken together, our study identifies a group of RPE differentiation relevant lncRNAs, and the potential role of ZNF503-AS1 in the pathology of atrophic AMD, which might help with the intervention of AMD patients.

This work aims to depth-resolved quantitatively analyze the effect of different stromal ablation amounts on the corneal biomechanical properties during small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) using optical coherence elastography (OCE). A 4.5-MHz ultrasonic transducer was used to excite elastic waves in the corneal tissue. The OCE system combined with the antisymmetric Lamb wave model was employed to achieve a high-resolution, high-sensitivity, and depth-resolved quantitative detection of the corneal Young’s modulus. Eighteen rabbits were randomly divided into three groups; each group had six rabbits. The first and second groups underwent -3D and -6D SMILE surgeries, and the third group was the control group, respectively. Young’s modulus of the corneal cap and residual stromal bed (RSB) were both increased after SMILE, which shared the stress under intraocular pressure (IOP). Furthermore, the Young’s modulus of both the corneal cap and RSB after 3D SMILE group were significantly lower than that in the -6D group, which indicated that the increases in the post-operative corneal Young’s modulus were positively correlated with the amount of stromal ablation. The OCE system for quantitative spatial characterization of corneal biomechanical properties can provide useful information on the extent of safe ablation for SMILE procedures.