The Art of Intercellular Wireless Communications: Exosomes in Heart Disease and Therapy

Abstract

Exosomes are nanoscale membrane-bound extracellular vesicles secreted by most eukaryotic cells in the body that facilitates intercellular communication. Exosomes carry several signaling biomolecules, including miRNA, proteins, enzymes, cell surface receptors, growth factors, cytokines and lipids that can modulate target cell biology and function. Due to these capabilities, exosomes have emerged as novel intercellular signaling mediators in both homeostasis and pathophysiological conditions. Recent studies document that exosomes (both circulating or released from heart tissue) have been actively involved in cardiac remodeling in response to stressors. Also, exosomes released from progenitor/stem cells have protective effects in heart diseases and shown to have regenerative potential in the heart. In this review we discuss-the critical role played by circulating exosomes released from various tissues and from cells within the heart in cardiac health; the gap in knowledge that needs to be addressed to promote future research; and exploitation of recent advances in exosome engineering to develop novel therapy.

Cardiosomal microRNAs Are Essential in Post-Infarction Myofibroblast Phenoconversion

“…Hence, miRNAs are actively transported, either by binding to RNA-binding proteins or by the inclusion in extracellular microvesicles/exosomes (named cardiosomes when derived from cardiomyocytes), allowing protection from ribonuclease-dependent degradation [20][21][22][23]. Extracellular vesicles incorporating miRNAs represent one of the most actively investigated areas in the cardiovascular field, being studied both as potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in a number of cardiovascular pathologies and associated metabolic diseases [24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

Identification and Comparison of Hyperglycemia-Induced Extracellular Vesicle Transcriptome in Different Mouse Stem Cells

“…It has been reported that miRNAs are selectively sorted into stem/progenitor cell-derived EVs and play important roles in mediating physiological and pathological processes of cardiovascular diseases [ 15 , 31 , 32 ]. Investigation of dysregulated miRNAs in stem/ progenitor cell-derived EVs under hyperglycemic insult may provide potential therapeutic targets for rescuing EV reparative function.…”

Highly purified extracellular vesicles from human cardiomyocytes demonstrate preferential uptake by human endothelial cells

“…55 In this context, EVs also appear to play an important role in cell-to-cell communication with important evidence now emerging to support the potential role of EVs of cardiac origin in the complex interplay between the CMs and ECs. 56 Hence, we hypothesize that the observed differences in the uptake capacity may indicate a preferential uptake of LAC-CM-EVs by hCMEC due to the enhanced cellular communication of CMs in a low glucose environment with ECs. This hypothesis is supported by recent studies showing that EVs secreted from various cardiac cells strongly interact with ECs and have the capacity to modulate their behaviour and function.…”