AUTHOR=Grimaldi Alfonso , Serpe Carmela , Chece Giuseppina , Nigro Valentina , Sarra Angelo , Ruzicka Barbara , Relucenti Michela , Familiari Giuseppe , Ruocco Giancarlo , Pascucci Giuseppe Rubens , Guerrieri Francesca , Limatola Cristina , Catalano Myriam TITLE=Microglia-Derived Microvesicles Affect Microglia Phenotype in Glioma JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience VOLUME=13 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2019.00041 DOI=10.3389/fncel.2019.00041 ISSN=1662-5102 ABSTRACT=

Extracellular-released vesicles (EVs), such as microvesicles (MV) and exosomes (Exo) provide a new type of inter-cellular communication, directly transferring a ready to use box of information, consisting of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. In the nervous system, EVs participate to neuron-glial cross-talk, a bidirectional communication important to preserve brain homeostasis and, when dysfunctional, involved in several CNS diseases. We investigated whether microglia-derived EVs could be used to transfer a protective phenotype to dysfunctional microglia in the context of a brain tumor. When MV, isolated from microglia stimulated with LPS/IFNγ were brain injected in glioma-bearing mice, we observed a phenotype switch of tumor associated myeloid cells (TAMs) and a reduction of tumor size. Our findings indicate that the MV cargo, which contains upregulated transcripts for several inflammation-related genes, can transfer information in the brain of glioma bearing mice modifying microglial gene expression, reducing neuronal death and glioma invasion, thus promoting the recovery of brain homeostasis.