Exosomes are extracellular nanovesicles that mediate a number of cellular processes, including intracellular signalling. There are many published examples of exosome-exosome dimers; however, their relevance has not been explored. Here, we propose that cells release exosomes to physically interact with incoming exosomes, forming dimers that we hypothesize attenuate incoming exosome-mediated signalling. We discuss experiments to test this hypothesis and potential relevance in health and disease.
Keywords: exosome; hypothesis; physical interaction; signalling; zeta potential.
© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.