Extracellular Vesicles (Exosomes) A Primer

Kathy O’Neil Smith, M.D., FAARM

Private Internal, Integrative and Regenerative Medicine Practice, Newton, MA

Exosomes are small membranous entities of endocytic origin. Their production by a wide variety of cells in eukaryotes implicates their roles in the execution of essential processes, especially cellular communication. Exosomes are secreted under both physiological and pathophysiological conditions, and their actions on neighboring and distant cells lead to the modulations of cellular behaviors. The characterization of exosomes, provides information on aberrant processes, and thus, exosome analysis has many clinical applications. Because they are associated with the transport of different cellular entities across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), exosomes might be useful for delivering drugs and other therapeutic molecules to brain. We will look at exosomes in the literature and review the roles exosomes play in different neurodegenerative diseases.