Abstract
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a disastrous situation that affects many patients worldwide. A profound understanding of the pathology and etiology of SCI is of great importance in inspiring new therapeutic concepts and treatment. In recent years, exosomes, which are complex lipid membrane structures secreted nearly by all kinds of plants and animal cells, can transport their valuable cargoes (e.g., proteins, lipids, RNAs) to the targeted cells and exert their communication and regulation functions, which open up a new field of treatment of SCI. Notably, the exosome's advantage is transporting the carried material to the target cells across the blood–brain barrier and exerting regulatory functions. Among the cargoes of exosomes, microRNAs, through the modulation of their mRNA targets, emerges with great potentiality in the pathological process, diagnosis and treatment of SCI. In this review, we discuss the role of miRNAs transported by different cell-derived exosomes in SCI that are poised to enhance SCI-specific therapeutic capabilities of exosomes.
Highlights
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological disorder that causes severe physical and psychological injury to the patient and brings a substantial economic burden to society [1,2]
This process is concurrent with downregulation of expression of Sprouty Related EVH1 Domain Containing 1 (SPRED1), Phosphoinositide-3-Kinase Regulatory Subunit 2 (PIK3R2) and Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (VCAM1) target genes [80]
Other miRNAs like miR-125a derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC) exerts neuroprotective effects by targeting and negatively regulating Interferon Regulatory Factor 5 (IRF5) expression in SCI rats [89]
Summary
SCI is a devastating neurological disorder that causes severe physical and psychological injury to the patient and brings a substantial economic burden to society [1,2]. When exosomes are exposed to high levels of extracellular ATP-releasing by astrocytes or damaged tissue, the purinergic (P2X7) receptors of micro vesicles are activated, resulting in caspase-1 mediated leukocyte-mediated division of interleukin-1β proprotein and secrete the mature interleukin-1β from the vesicles [27]. This process may be the promoter of the primary inflammation during SCI. The decreasing effect of Dicer or Drosha (or its co-factor DGSR8) confirms the role of miRNAs in neurodevelopment, which are important sections of miRNA biogenesis [44,45,46]
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