Extracellular vesicles in cardiovascular homeostasis and disease

Extracellular vesicles have emerged as one of the most important means through which cells interact with each other and the extracellular environment, but extracellular vesicle research remains challenging due to their small size, limited amount of material required for traditional molecular biology assays and inconsistency in the methods of their isolation. The advent of new technologies and standards in the field, however, have led to increased mechanistic insight into extracellular vesicle function. Herein, the latest studies on the role of extracellular vesicles in cardiovascular physiology and disease are discussed.

Extracellular vesicles help control cardiovascular homeostasis and remodelling by mediating communication between cells and directing alterations in the extracellular matrix to respond to changes in the environment. The message carried from the parent cell to extracellular space can be intended for both local (within the same tissue) and distal (downstream of blood flow) targets. Pathological cargo loaded within extracellular vesicles could further result in various diseases. On the contrary, new studies indicate that injection of extracellular vesicles obtained from cultured cells into diseased tissues can promote restoration of normal tissue function.

Extracellular vesicles are an integral part of cell and tissue function, and harnessing the properties inherent to extracellular vesicles may provide a therapeutic strategy to promote tissue regeneration.