About this Research Topic

Background

Exosomes are nano-sized (30–200 nm in diameter) vesicles, released by all eukaryotic cells, that carry cell- and cell-state-specific cargo of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, including mRNAs and miRNAs. Numerous studies have demonstrated that exosomes play crucial roles in intercellular communications, disease development, and spreading and offer opportunities for therapeutic interventions and as a vehicle for targeted drug delivery. Exosomes are known to be involved in the resistance to therapies via horizontal transfer of their functional biomolecules to neighboring cells, distant cells or both. The central nervous system derived exosomes are found to carry amyloidogenic proteins and facilitate their cell-to-cell transfer, thus playing a critical role in the progression of several neurodegenerative disorders. Tumor cell-derived exosomal contents could help understand metastatic dissemination to prevent cancer recurrence. Thus, circulating exosomes are becoming a popular choice among existing liquid biopsies. The detection of biomarkers in circulating exosomes and the profiling of their disease-specific contents are expected to facilitate early detection of several diseases, predict prognosis, and monitor therapy responses. On the other hand, technological challenges are associated, at times, with the methodology for isolation of ‘ bona fide ’ exosomes from experimental samples, their characterization, the incorporation of therapeutic materials into these vesicles, and with their delivery to specific cells.

Exosomes, derived from specific cell types, hold tremendous potential for understanding intrinsic disease-related pathways and offer biomarker identification opportunities and targeted therapeutic interventions. Even though the exosomes have tremendous applications, the practical mechanistic details of isolation and characterization are crucial and may compromise the utility of the desired approach. The ultracentrifugation is still considered the gold standard for exosome isolation, but the non-availability of any universally accepted methodology for isolation of exosomes from limited sample amounts and downstream validation of their source origin presents unique challenges. The heterogeneity of extracellular vesicles, regulation of EV biogenesis and uptake of EVs by the targeted cells are also some of the important issues in the EV field that are being extensively investigated by the world scientific community. Current knowledge on these topics will benefit the scientific community to understand the nature of EVs and their functions. Therefore this research topic is aimed not only on the various applications of exosomes but also on the development of novel methods for their isolation and characterization.

For this Research Topic, we invite authors to submit Original Research articles that provide novel insights into the field of exosomes/extracellular vesicle biology, including but not limited to:

• Identification, isolation, and characterization of exosomes/extracellular vesicles
• Roles of exosomes in intercellular communications, therapeutic applications targeting any specific disease
• Utilization of exosomes as a potential source of disease biomarkers and as a vehicle for drug delivery.
• Exosome biogenesis.

We also encourage authors to submit Review Articles highlighting recent findings/advancements in the above-discussed areas.

The Topic Editors would like to acknowledge Dr. Jina Ko and Dr. Ghulam Hassan Dar for their collaboration in the organization of this Research Topic.

Keywords: Extracellular Vesicles, Inflammation, Neurodegeneration, Cancer, Biomarker, Drug Delivery

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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