From trash to treasure: the role of bacterial extracellular vesicles in gut health and disease

Desen Sun; Pan Chen; Yang Xi; Jinghao Sheng

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1274295

From trash to treasure: the role of bacterial extracellular vesicles in gut health and disease

Front Immunol. 2023 Sep 29:14:1274295. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1274295. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Desen Sun¹, Pan Chen¹, Yang Xi¹, Jinghao Sheng²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Health Science Center, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
² Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) have emerged as critical factors involved in gut health regulation, transcending their traditional roles as byproducts of bacterial metabolism. These vesicles function as cargo carriers and contribute to various aspects of intestinal homeostasis, including microbial balance, antimicrobial peptide secretion, physical barrier integrity, and immune system activation. Therefore, any imbalance in BEV production can cause several gut-related issues including intestinal infection, inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic dysregulation, and even cancer. BEVs derived from beneficial or commensal bacteria can act as potent immune regulators and have been implicated in maintaining gut health. They also show promise for future clinical applications in vaccine development and tumor immunotherapy. This review examines the multifaceted role of BEVs in gut health and disease, and also delves into future research directions and potential applications.

Keywords: bacterial extracellular vesicles; cancer; gut disease treatments; gut health; immune barrier; inflammatory bowel disease; intestinal barriers; outer membranes vesicles.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacteria
Extracellular Vesicles* / metabolism
Humans
Immune System
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases*
Neoplasms* / metabolism

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071289; 82200611); Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (LR20H160004; LQ22H030005); Leading Innovation and Entrepreneur Team of Hangzhou (No. TD2020006); The Keynote Research Project of Ningbo City (2023Z171).