Functional proteins of mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles

• Main Authors: Guanguan Qiu, Guoping Zheng, Menghua Ge, Jiangmei Wang, Ruoqiong Huang, Qiang Shu, Jianguo Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2019-11-01
• Series: Stem Cell Research & Therapy
• Subjects: Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells; Extracellular vesicles; Exosomes; Microvesicles; Functional proteins
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-019-1484-6

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain proteins, microRNAs, mRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and phospholipids, and are a novel mechanism of intercellular communication. It has been proposed that the immunomodulatory and regenerative effects of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are mainly mediated by soluble paracrine factors and MSC-derived EVs (MSC-EVs). Recent studies suggest that MSC-EVs may serve as a novel and cell-free alternative to whole-cell therapies. The focus of this review is to discuss the functional proteins which facilitate the effects of MSC-EVs. The first section of the review discusses the general functions of EV proteins. Next, we describe the proteomics of MSC-EVs as compared with their parental cells. Then, the review presents the current knowledge that protein contents of MSC-EVs play an essential role in immunomodulation and treatment of various diseases. In summary, functional protein components are at least partially responsible for disease-modulating capacity of MSC-EVs.