Role of Exosomes/Microvesicles in the Nervous System and Use in Emerging Therapies

Extracellular membrane vesicles (EMVs) are nanometer sized vesicles, including exosomes and microvesicles capable of transferring DNAs, mRNAs, microRNAs, non-coding RNAs, proteins, and lipids among cells without direct cell-to-cell contact, thereby representing a novel form of intercellular communic...

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Published inFrontiers in physiology Vol. 3; p. 228
Main Authors Lai, Charles Pin-Kuang, Breakefield, Xandra Owen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 01.01.2012
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects
Cancer
development
Exosomes
neurodegeneration
Neuron
Physiology
therapy
development
neuroregeneration
exosomes
therapy
neurodegeneration
neuron
cancer
microvesicles
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Summary:Extracellular membrane vesicles (EMVs) are nanometer sized vesicles, including exosomes and microvesicles capable of transferring DNAs, mRNAs, microRNAs, non-coding RNAs, proteins, and lipids among cells without direct cell-to-cell contact, thereby representing a novel form of intercellular communication. Many cells in the nervous system have been shown to release EMVs, implicating their active roles in development, function, and pathologies of this system. While substantial progress has been made in understanding the biogenesis, biophysical properties, and involvement of EMVs in diseases, relatively less information is known about their biological function in the normal nervous system. In addition, since EMVs are endogenous vehicles with low immunogenicity, they have also been actively investigated for the delivery of therapeutic genes/molecules in treatment of cancer and neurological diseases. The present review summarizes current knowledge about EMV functions in the nervous system under both physiological and pathological conditions, as well as emerging EMV-based therapies that could be applied to the nervous system in the foreseeable future.
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Edited by: Claudia Verderio, CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Italy
Reviewed by: Patrizia Rosa, Italian National Research Council, Italy; Rachel Susan Kraut, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Stefano Pluchino, University of Cambridge, UK; Mikael Simons, Max-Planck-Institut für Experimentelle Medizin, Germany
This article was submitted to Frontiers in Membrane Physiology and Biophysics, a specialty of Frontiers in Physiology.
ISSN:1664-042X
1664-042X
DOI:10.3389/fphys.2012.00228