Evaluation of the Anti-Cancer Potential of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Human Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells: Focus on Effective miRNAs in the Treatment of Melanoma Progression

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and their secretome show intrinsic antitumor properties, however, the anti-cancer effects of MSCs remain debated and depend on the cancer type or model. MSCs derived from discarded samples, such as human amniotic fluid (hAFSC), have been introduced as an attractive and potent stem cell source for clinical applications due to their collection procedures, which minimize ethical issues. Until now, various studies have obtained controversial results and poor understanding of the mechanisms behind the effects of perinatal cells on cancer cells. To better clarify this aspect, protein and miRNA expression profiling isolated from Extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by hAFSCs, obtained in the II or III trimester, were evaluated. Bioinformatic analysis was performed aiming at evaluating differential expression, pathway enrichment, and miRNA-mRNA networks. We highlighted that most of the highest expressed proteins and miRNAs are mainly involved in antioxidant and anti-cancer effects. Indeed, in the presence of hAFSC-EVs, a reduction of the G2/M phase was observed on melanoma cell lines, an activation of the apoptotic pathway occurred and the migration and invasion ability reduced. Our data demonstrated that II or III trimester hAFSCs can release bioactive factors into EVs, causing an efficient anti-cancer effect inhibiting melanoma progression.