**6. Tumour-educated platelets**

Platelets are known to participate not only in blood clotting but also in inflammatory and immune processes, e.g. communicating with lymphocytes or regulating cellular transmigration through blood vessel's wall. In malignant tumours, platelets are involved in neoangiogenesis, induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and metastatic spread of tumour cells, protecting them from the immune system. Contacting with tumour cells, platelets can uptake clinically relevant, tumour-specific biomarkers, as demonstrated in the models of glioblastoma, non-small cell lung cancer or prostate cancer. Such platelets are described as tumour-educated platelets, potentially representing diagnostic or therapeutic targets, as well as a clue to further theoretical investigations of carcinogenesis [18].

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