Extracellular vesicles and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): a systematic review

Abstract

Background Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by irreversible airflow limitation, ranking the third highest cause of death worldwide. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are important intercellular communication mediators released by cells into their extracellular environment with the capacity to transfer biological signals. EVs involved in COPD hold great potential to understand disease pathogenesis and identify important biomarkers. This systematic review aims to examine all available research on EVs in the pathogenesis and diagnosis of COPD to identify existing knowledge and support further research within the field. Methods Publications were searched using PubMed and EMBASE with the search terms (Exosomes or extracellular vesicles or microvesicles or microparticles or ectosomes) AND (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD or emphysema or bronchitis). Results Initial search yielded 512 papers of which 142 were manually selected for review and 43 were eligible for analyses. The studies were divided into groups according to the role of EVs in pathogenesis, EV origin and cargo, their role in COPD exacerbations and their diagnostic utility. EVs were found to be involved in the mechanism of pathogenesis of COPD, derived from various cell types, as well as containing modified levels of miRNAs. EVs also varied according to the pathophysiological status of disease, therefore presenting a possible method for COPD diagnosis and progress monitoring. Conclusion The current findings show the limited but good quality research looking at the role of EVs in COPD, demonstrating the need for more studies to better define and provide further insight into the functional characteristics of EV in COPD pathogenesis.

Exosomal Micro-RNAs as Intercellular Communicators in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

“…Although this review was focused on the analysis of exosomal-miRNAs in IPF, the most recent data about exosomal-miRNAs in malignant pathologies [ 176 ], diabetes mellitus [ 177 ], other lung diseases [ 178 ], and emergent diseases such as COVID-19 [ 179 ], clearly highlight the importance of further advancing this line of research.…”

Therapeutic Strategy of Mesenchymal-Stem-Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles as Regenerative Medicine

“…Extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are nano- to micro-sized lipid bilayer membrane particles secreted by host cells, play critical roles in novel intercellular communication mechanisms, mediating the transduction of functional molecules with physiological activity, such as microRNAs, mRNAs, proteins, and lipids ( Figure 1 ) [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ,…”

Extracellular Vesicles as Novel Drug-Delivery Systems through Intracellular Communications

“…EVs are a heterogeneous group of membrane-enclosed structures of varying sizes and different origins that are released from almost every cell type [9,10]. EVs, classified by size, are categorized as such: exosomes (30-150 nm diameter, 100,000× g sedimentation speed), which are released from the fusion of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) with the plasma membrane; large EVs, such as microvesicles, also called outer membrane vesicles, ectosomes, or shedding vesicles (100 to 1000 nm diameter, 10,000× g sedimentation speed), which are derived from the outward budding of the cell membrane when the curtain is torn off; apoptotic bodies, which fall off during the process of cell apoptosis (50 to 5000 nm Membranes 2022, 12, 550 2 of 16 diameter, 2000× g sedimentation speed) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. EVs are also categorized based on their content, biogenesis, functions, sedimentation speed during stepwise centrifugation of the sample, as well as by their secretory origins, such as the plasma membrane and endosomes (Figure 1) [18][19][20].…”