Nature
•74% Informative
Extracellular vesicles (EVs, also known as exosomes) might be transmitting information between cells.
They are produced by machinery inside the cell that traffics molecules and particles to where they need to be.
Researchers hope that EVs could be exploited to diagnose, or even treat, various diseases.
EVs released from healthy cells are known to regulate a wide range of physiological processes, from triggering an immune response to maintaining cellular equilibrium.
EVs from tumour cells carry cancer-promoting proteins and RNA molecules to other sites in the body, where they can develop as metastases.
In neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, scientists suspect that EVs secreted by neurons might be responsible for spreading these proteins.
Scientists in China are carrying out early-stage clinical trials in which EVs derived from a person’s own tumour cells are loaded with a chemotherapeutic agent, such as methotrexate or cisplatin.
Small trials using engineered EVs to treat some cancers are ongoing.
No gene therapy using EVs has been registered for a clinical trial.
VR Score
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