Extracellular vesicles in metabolic disease

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are submicron-sized lipid envelopes that are produced and released from a parent cell and can be taken up by a recipient cell. EVs are capable of mediating cellular signalling by carrying nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and cellular metabolites between cells and organs. Metabolic dysfunction is associated with changes in plasma concentrations of EVs as well as alterations in their EV cargo. Since EVs can act as messengers between parent and recipient cells, they could be involved in cell-to-cell and organ-to-organ communication in metabolic diseases. Recent literature has shown that EVs are produced by cells within metabolic tissues, such as adipose tissue, pancreas, muscle and liver. These vesicles have therefore been proposed as a novel intercellular communication mode in systemic metabolic regulation. In this review, we will describe and discuss the current literature that investigates the role of adipose-derived EVs in the regulation of obesity-associated metabolic disease. We will particularly focus on the EV-dependent communication between adipocytes, the vasculature and immune cells in type 2 diabetes.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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