Exosome mediated Tom40 delivery protects against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress by regulating mitochondrial function

PLoS One. 2022 Aug 11;17(8):e0272511. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272511. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of neurodegeneration. The expression level of Tom40, a crucial mitochondrial membrane protein, is significantly reduced in neurodegenerative disease subjects. Tom40 overexpression studies have shown to protect the neurons against oxidative stress by improving mitochondrial function. Thus, successful delivery of Tom40 protein to the brain could lead to a novel therapy for neurodegenerative diseases. However, delivering protein to the cell may be difficult. Especially the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a big hurdle to clear in order to deliver the protein to the brain. In the current study, we engineered exosomes, which are the extracellular vesicles of endosomal origin, and able to cross BBB as delivery vehicles packing human Tom40. We found Tom40 protein delivery by the exosome successfully protected the cells against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. This result suggests that exosome-mediated delivery of Tom40 may potentially be useful in restoring mitochondrial functions and alleviating oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Exosomes* / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Peroxide / metabolism
  • Mitochondria / metabolism
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases* / metabolism
  • Oxidative Stress

Substances

  • Hydrogen Peroxide

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Florida health department grant, Ed and Ethel Moore 747 Alzheimer Research Grant Number: University of Central Florida (7AZ11), Principal 748 Investigator: Kiminobu Sugaya, PhD, Project Title: Antibody targeting of IL1RAP and 749 studying their therapeutic effects in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. he funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.