In vitro toxicology studies of extracellular vesicles.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound vesicles released from cells into the extracellular environment. There is emerging interest in the use of EVs as potential therapeutic interventions. We sought to evaluate the safety of EVs that may be therapeutically used by performing in vitro toxicological assessments. EVs were obtained from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-EV) or from bovine milk (BM-EV) by differential ultracentrifugation, and quantitated using nanoparticle tracking analysis. Genotoxic effects, hematological effects, immunological effects and endotoxin production were evaluated at two dose levels. Neither MSC-EVs nor BM-EVs elicited detectable genotoxic effects using either the alkaline comet assay or micronucleus assay. Hemolysis was observed with BM-EVs but not with MSC-EVs. MSC-EVs did not have any significant effect on either spontaneous or collagen-induced platelet aggregation. In contrast, BM-EVs were noted to increase collagen-induced platelet aggregation, even though no spontaneous increase in platelet aggregation was noted. Both types of EVs induced leukocyte proliferation, which was greater with BM-EV. Neither MSC-EVs nor BM-EVs induced HL-60 phagocytosis, although BM-EVs decreased zymosan-induced phagocytosis. Furthermore, neither MSC-EVs nor BM-EVs induced nitric oxide production. Unlike MSC-EVs, BM-EVs tested positive for endotoxin and induced complement activation. There are significant differences in toxicological profiles between MSC-EVs and BM-EVs that may reflect variations in techniques for EV isolation, EV content or cross-species differences. The safety of MSC-EV supports their use for disease therapeutics, whereas detailed safety and toxicological assessment will be necessary before the use of BM-EVs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Extracellular vesicle long noncoding RNA as potential biomarkers of liver cancer.

Analysis of extracellular vesicles (EV) and their contents may be useful as disease biomarkers if they reflect the contents of cells of origin, differ between normal and diseased tissue and can be reliably detected. An increasing number of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) are being reported to be aberrantly expressed in human cancers. These tumor-associated lncRNA may have potential as new biomarkers of disease. In this review, we highlight lncRNAs that are commonly associated with hepatocellular cancer, and summarize their potential biological roles and underlying molecular mechanisms. While lncRNA can be detected in the circulation, their low expression within circulating vesicles will require the use of highly sensitive detection technologies such as digital polymerase chain reaction or next-generation sequencing. While the integrity and functional role of tumor-specific lncRNAs within EV have yet to be established, their presence or enrichment within tumor cell-derived EV offers promise for their potential as disease biomarkers.