Look Who Is Talking: Extracellular Vesicles as Mediators of Intercellular and Interorgan Communication

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 produced by every organ, serving as vehicles for communication. By circulating throughout the body and targeting both neighboring and distant cells and organs, they can drive downstream signaling. EVs play a role as effectors of cell-to-cell communication in the tissue microenvironment and have demonstrated their importance in driving downstream biological processes, maintenance of homeostasis and response to stimuli. New methodologies supporting the study of EV-mediated long-distance communication have revealed a whole new unexplored function in maintaining homeostasis of the organism and serving as indicators of pathological conditions. In this review, we provide the most recent update on the role of EVs as mediators of intercellular and interorgan communication.

Evidence level

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

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