Abstract
The functional mechanisms of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have become a research focus in recent years. Accumulating evidence supports the notion that MSCs act in a paracrine manner. Therefore, the biological factors in conditioned medium, including exosomes and soluble factors, derived from MSC cultures are being explored extensively. The results from most investigations show that MSC-conditioned medium or its components mediate some biological functions of MSCs. Several studies have reported that MSC-derived exosomes have functions similar to those of MSCs, such as repairing tissue damage, suppressing inflammatory responses, and modulating the immune system. However, the mechanisms are still not fully understood and the results remain controversial. Compared with cells, exosomes are more stable and reservable, have no risk of aneuploidy, a lower possibility of immune rejection following in vivo allogeneic administration, and may provide an alternative therapy for various diseases. In this review, we summarize the properties and biological functions of MSC-derived exosomes and discuss the related mechanisms.
Highlights
Cells are known to secrete a large variety of vesicles into the extracellular space, of which exosomes have received the most attention in recent years
Purified exosomes administered to a mouse myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (MI/R) injury model revealed that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) mediate their cardioprotective paracrine effect by exosome secretion [47]
The results showed that MSC-derived microvesicles inhibit autoreactive lymphocyte proliferation and promote secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β
Summary
Cells are known to secrete a large variety of vesicles into the extracellular space, of which exosomes have received the most attention in recent years. They were originally thought to be necessary for the clearance of unneeded proteins from cells [1], and the current opinion is that exosomes are . Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing, multipotent progenitors that can be isolated from various tissues. They are widely tested in clinical trials because of their multiple biological functions including multilineage differentiation, tissue-repair promotion, anti-inflammatory medication, immunosuppression, and neuroprotection. We summarize the current knowledge on the composition, functions, and isolation strategies of MSC-derived exosomes, and discuss their potential therapeutic applications
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