Endogenous Radionanomedicine: Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles are bilayered proteolipids ranging from 30 to 1000 nm in diameter. All cells of three domains of life on earth actively shed extracellular vesicles to the surrounding environments including various biological body fluids. Moreover, extracellular vesicles harbor specific subsets of cellular bioactive molecules including proteins, lipids, mRNAs, miRNAs, and metabolites. During last decade, explosively growing evidences are supporting the emerging roles of these complex extracellular organelles as endogenous and environmental nanocarriers by carrying specific subsets of bioactive cargos: extracellular vesicle-mediated intercellular communication is evolutionarily conserved phenomenon. Furthermore, extracellular vesicles are novel targets for diagnostics and therapeutics. Thus, a future comprehensive understanding of extracellular vesicle-mediated intercellular communication including their complex pathophysiological functions is critical to decode the secrets of life and to develop novel extracellular vesicle-based diagnostics and therapeutics against hard-to-cure diseases such as cancer. Here, we briefly review history, biogenesis, pathophysiological function, and biomedical application of mammalian extracellular vesicles that are categorized into exosomes and ectosomes (also known as microvesicles). We also discuss on perspectives for a future comprehensive understanding of extracellular vesicle-mediated pathophysiological functions, decoding the secrets of life, as well as developing novel extracellular vesicle-based diagnostics and therapeutics against hard-to-cure diseases: isolation of extracellular vesicles, extracellular vesiclemimetic nanovesicles as novel alternatives to extracellular vesicle-based therapeutics, and a holistic systems biology approach based on the concept of emergent properties.