Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QX, UK.
Hum Mol Genet. 2012 Oct 15;21(R1):R125-34. doi: 10.1093/hmg/dds317. Epub 2012 Aug 7.
Exosomes and microvesicles are extracellular nanovesicles released by most but not all cells. They are specifically equipped to mediate intercellular communication via the transfer of genetic information, including the transfer of both coding and non-coding RNAs, to recipient cells. As a result, both exosomes and microvesicles play a fundamental biological role in the regulation of normal physiological as well as aberrant pathological processes, via altered gene regulatory networks and/or via epigenetic programming. For example, microvesicle-mediated genetic transfer can regulate the maintenance of stem cell plasticity and induce beneficial cell phenotype modulation. Alternatively, such vesicles play a role in tumor pathogenesis and the spread of neurodegenerative diseases via the transfer of specific microRNAs and pathogenic proteins. Given this natural property for genetic information transfer, the possibility of exploiting these vesicles for therapeutic purposes is now being investigated. Stem cell-derived microvesicles appear to be naturally equipped to mediate tissue regeneration under certain conditions, while recent evidence suggests that exosomes might be harnessed for the targeted delivery of human genetic therapies via the introduction of exogenous genetic cargoes such as siRNA. Thus, extracellular vesicles are emerging as potent genetic information transfer agents underpinning a range of biological processes and with therapeutic potential.
外泌体和微泡是大多数（但不是所有）细胞释放的细胞外纳米囊泡。它们专门通过遗传信息的转移（包括编码和非编码 RNA 的转移）来介导细胞间通讯，从而在调节正常生理和异常病理过程中发挥基本的生物学作用。通过改变基因调控网络和/或通过表观遗传编程。例如，微泡介导的遗传转移可以调节干细胞可塑性的维持，并诱导有益的细胞表型调节。或者，这些囊泡通过转移特定的 microRNAs 和致病性蛋白在肿瘤发病机制和神经退行性疾病的传播中发挥作用。鉴于这种遗传信息转移的自然特性，现在正在研究利用这些囊泡进行治疗的可能性。干细胞衍生的微泡似乎在某些条件下具有天然的组织再生能力，而最近的证据表明，外泌体可以通过引入外源性遗传物质（如 siRNA）来利用外泌体进行靶向人类基因治疗。因此，细胞外囊泡作为潜在的遗传信息传递剂正在出现，为一系列生物学过程提供支持，并具有治疗潜力。
