Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117583, Singapore.
Institute for Health Innovation and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117599, Singapore.
Adv Biosyst. 2020 Dec;4(12):e1900309. doi: 10.1002/adbi.201900309. Epub 2020 Jun 28.
Neurodegenerative diseases are heterogeneous disorders characterized by a progressive loss of function and/or death of nerve cells, leading to severe cognitive and functional decline. Due to the complex pathology, early detection and intervention are critical to the development of successful treatments; however, current diagnostic approaches are limited to subjective, late-stage clinical findings. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have recently emerged as a promising circulating biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases. Actively released by diverse cells, EVs are nanoscale membrane vesicles. They abound in blood, readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and carry diverse molecular cargoes in different organizational states: these molecular cargoes are inherited from the parent cells or bound to the EV membrane through surface associations. Specifically, EVs have been found to be associated with several important pathogenic proteins of neurodegenerative diseases, and their involvement could alter disease progression. This article provides an overview of EVs as circulating biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases and introduces new technological advances to characterize the biophysical properties of EV-associated biomarkers for accurate, blood-based detection of neurodegenerative diseases.
神经退行性疾病是一种异质性疾病，其特征是神经细胞的功能逐渐丧失和/或死亡，导致严重的认知和功能下降。由于病理复杂，早期发现和干预对成功治疗至关重要；然而，目前的诊断方法仅限于主观的、晚期的临床发现。细胞外囊泡 (EVs) 最近作为神经退行性疾病有前途的循环生物标志物出现。EVs 由多种细胞主动释放，是纳米级的膜囊泡。它们大量存在于血液中，容易穿过血脑屏障，并以不同的组织状态携带多种分子货物：这些分子货物是从亲代细胞遗传而来，或通过表面关联与 EV 膜结合。具体来说，已经发现 EVs 与神经退行性疾病的几种重要致病蛋白有关，它们的参与可能会改变疾病的进展。本文概述了 EVs 作为神经退行性疾病的循环生物标志物，并介绍了新的技术进展，以描述与 EV 相关的生物标志物的生物物理特性，从而实现对神经退行性疾病的准确、基于血液的检测。
