Extracellular vesicle-mediated bidirectional communication between heart and other organs

Abstract

In recent years, a wealth of studies have identified various molecular species released by cardiac muscle under physiological and pathological conditions which exert local paracrine and/or remote endocrine effects. Conversely, humoral factors, principally produced by organs such as skeletal muscle, kidney or adipose tissue, may affect the function and metabolism of normal and diseased hearts. While this cross-communication within cardiac tissue and between the heart and other organs is supported by mounting evidence, research on the role of molecular mediators carried by exosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies, collectively defined as extracellular vesicles (EVs), is at an early stage of investigation. Once released in the circulation, EVs can potentially reach any organ where they transfer their cargo of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids which exert potent biological effects on recipient cells. While there are a few cases where such signaling was clearly demonstrated, the results from many others studies can only be tentatively inferred based on indirect evidence obtained by infusing exogenous EVs in experimental animals or by adding them to cell cultures. This area of research is in rapid expansion and most mechanistic interpretations may change in the near future, hence the present review on the role played by EV-carried mediators in the two-way communication between heart and skeletal muscle, kidneys, bone marrow, lungs, liver, adipose tissue and brain is necessarily limited. Nonetheless, the available data are already unveiling new, intriguing and ample scenarios in cardiac physiology and pathophysiology.

GPS2-mediated regulation of the adipocyte secretome modulates adipose tissue remodeling at the onset of diet-induced obesity

“…The impact of GPS2-mediated transcriptional regulation of exosomal components on inter-organ communication processes remains to be determined, but it is important to acknowledge that exosomes contribute to long range inter-organ communication as well as to local paracrine signaling [ 8 , 25 , 36 , 57 , 82 , 126 ]. This suggests that the altered exosomal content observed in the absence of GPS2 may also play a direct role in contributing to the worsening of whole body metabolic fitness in addition to the indirect effects caused by increased lipid spillover, enhanced local inflammation, and cytokine and adipokine signaling.…”

Urinary extracellular vesicle as a potential biomarker of exercise-induced fatigue in young adult males

“…CD81 can be upregulated by oxidative stress, enhancing monocyte adhesion to endothelium under flow (Rohlena et al 2009 ). EVs could manage reciprocal communication between heart and other organs (Gabisonia et al 2022 ) and take part in the development of various hypertensive disorder(Z. Z. Liu et al 2021 ).…”

Plasma Extracellular Vesicles as Liquid Biopsy to Unravel the Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiac Reverse Remodeling Following Resynchronization Therapy?

“…The aforementioned data on miRNAs refer to myocardial expression and are hard to obtain in patients. However, at least some of the miRNAs from the heart are released by the heart in EVs [ 13 , 51 ]. Circulating miRNAs, including those released by cardiomyocytes, are mainly enclosed into EVs, which has the practical advantage, from a diagnostic perspective, that they are protected from enzymatic degradation [ 52 ].…”