A brief history of nearly EV-erything - The rise and rise of extracellular vesicles

Yvonne Couch; Edit I Buzàs; Dolores Di Vizio; Yong Song Gho; Paul Harrison; Andrew F Hill; Jan Lötvall; Graça Raposo; Philip D Stahl; Clotilde Théry; Kenneth W Witwer; David R F Carter

doi:10.1002/jev2.12144

A brief history of nearly EV-erything - The rise and rise of extracellular vesicles

J Extracell Vesicles. 2021 Dec;10(14):e12144. doi: 10.1002/jev2.12144.

Authors

Yvonne Couch¹, Edit I Buzàs^{2

3

4}, Dolores Di Vizio⁵, Yong Song Gho⁶, Paul Harrison⁷, Andrew F Hill⁸, Jan Lötvall⁹, Graça Raposo¹⁰, Philip D Stahl¹¹, Clotilde Théry¹², Kenneth W Witwer¹³, David R F Carter^{14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Acute Stroke Programme, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford, UK.
² Department of Genetics, Cell- and Immunobiology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
³ ELKH-SE Immune-Proteogenomics Extracellular Vesicle Research Group, Budapest, Hungary.
⁴ HCEMM-SU Extracellular Vesicles Research Group, Budapest, Hungary.
⁵ Department of Surgery, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Life Sciences, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
⁸ Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
⁹ Krefting Research Centre, Institute of Medicine Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁰ Institut Curie, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR144, Structure and Membrane Compartments, Paris, France.
¹¹ Department of Cell Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
¹² INSERM U932, Institut Curie, Paris Sciences et Lettres Research University, Paris, France.
¹³ Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology and Neurology, and The Richman Family Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Alzheimer's Disease, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
¹⁵ Evox Therapeutics Limited, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4HG, UK.

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small cargo-bearing vesicles released by cells into the extracellular space. The field of EVs has grown exponentially over the past two decades; this growth follows the realisation that EVs are not simply a waste disposal system as had originally been suggested by some, but also a complex cell-to-cell communication mechanism. Indeed, EVs have been shown to transfer functional cargo between cells and can influence several biological processes. These small biological particles are also deregulated in disease. As we approach the 75th anniversary of the first experiments in which EVs were unknowingly isolated, it seems right to take stock and look back on how the field started, and has since exploded into its current state. Here we review the early experiments, summarise key findings that have propelled the field, describe the growth of an organised EV community, discuss the current state of the field, and identify key challenges that need to be addressed.

Keywords: ectosome; exosome; extracellular vesicle; microparticle; microvesicle.

A brief history of nearly EV-erything - The rise and rise of extracellular vesicles

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