Tools for the research community

3/12/2012 8:14:31 AM #

New funding on exosomes is needed. THere is a lot of new evidence for inter organ communications and diseaes specificity for exosomes that  need further exploration.

Gyongyi Szabo | Reply

3/14/2012 6:33:56 AM #

There are many features of vesicle research which indicate potential clinical relevance. I will  list some of these below:
1.) The capacity to convert on cell type toward the fate of another cell type . This has been seen with lung, liver, brain and heart converting marrow cells. The conversions appear to be long-lived (up to 12 weeks in in in vitro  cytokine supported culture). They also  appear to be epigenetic in nature . (Aliotta et al Exp Hematol 2006, 34:230-241 and Aliotta et al. Stem cells 2007,25:2245-2256).
2.) Repair of kidney injury by mesenchymal derived microvesicles (Gatti et al. Nephrol Dial Transplant 26:1474-1486)
3.) Microvesicle induced change of cancer phenotype toward a normal phenotype (The Quesenberry group in Providience and the Camussi group in Torino , Italy).
4.) Microvesicles as a unique and easy alternativde to conventional gene therapy apporaches
5.) Tremendous potential for microvesicles to serve as unique biomarkers in many diseaase states.
6.) Realeted to above: apotentila role in repair of cardiac, pulmonary , hepatic adn neural injuries.
7.) Possible role in transplant biology in general.

peter quesenberry | Reply

3/20/2012 3:02:22 AM #

Sensitive bioanalytical strategies are available--proteomics, transcriptomics, lipidomics--to inventory microvesicle cargo,  with confirmation of molecules of special interest by biological experiments. These strategies may also be directed at parental cells.

Catherine Fenselau | Reply

3/20/2012 4:37:04 AM #

It is feasible to catalogue exosomes by tissue of origin, target tissue, and cargo. This requires the capacity to immunocapture subpopulations of exosomes with immunologic techniques. Technologies that should be improved and/or developed include immunocapture (differential aphaeresis of exosomes), immunometric multiplex characterization, setting up exosome farms.

Antonio Chiesi | Reply