Fig. 7

Elevated plasma exosomal miR-106a-5p as an independent prognostic marker in CRC. (A) TEM showed the typical structures of healthy individuals and CRC patients’ plasma exosomes. Scale bar = 100 μm. (B) qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-106a-5p in exosomes from healthy individuals, CRC patients without liver metastasis, and CRC patients with liver metastasis. (C) qRT-PCR was performed to assess the expression of miR-106a-5p in the plasma exosomes of 20 CRC patients both before and after undergoing surgery. D-E. High expression of exosomal miR-106a-5p correlated with shorter OS (D) and DFS (E). F. Schematic diagram depicting the positive feedback loop between highly metastatic CRC cells and M2 macrophages in CRC during liver metastasis. The data presented herein represent the outcomes of a minimum of three independent experiments and are depicted as the mean ± standard deviation (SD). *P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001