For Publishers
DiscoveryMetadataPeer reviewHostingPublishing
For Researchers
JoinPublishReviewCollect
Register
Blog
About
Search
Advanced search
My ScienceOpen
Search
For Publishers
For Researchers
Blog
About
18
views
17
references
 Top references
cited by
130
    
0 reviews
 Review
0
comments
 Comment
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      539
      similar
       All similar
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Q&A: What are exosomes, exactly?

      research-article
      Author(s):
      Publication date (Electronic):
      Journal: BMC Biology
      Publisher: BioMed Central

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Exosomes are extracellular vesicles first described as such 30 years ago and since implicated in cell–cell communication and the transmission of disease states, and explored as a means of drug discovery. Yet fundamental questions about their biology remain unanswered. Here I explore what exosomes are, highlight the difficulties in studying them and explain the current definition and some of the outstanding issues in exosome biology.

          Related collections

          Most cited references17

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Electron microscopic evidence for externalization of the transferrin receptor in vesicular form in sheep reticulocytes

          K. Teng, M Adam Mahmood, C Wu … (1985)
          Using ferritin-labeled protein A and colloidal gold-labeled anti-rabbit IgG, the fate of the sheep transferrin receptor has been followed microscopically during reticulocyte maturation in vitro. After a few minutes of incubation at 37 degrees C, the receptor is found on the cell surface or in simple vesicles of 100-200 nm, in which the receptor appears to line the limiting membrane of the vesicles. With time (60 min or longer), large multivesicular elements (MVEs) appear whose diameter may reach 1-1.5 micron. Inside these large MVEs are round bodies of approximately 50-nm diam that bear the receptor at their external surfaces. The limiting membrane of the large MVEs is relatively free from receptor. When the large MVEs fuse with the plasma membrane, their contents, the 50-nm bodies, are released into the medium. The 50-nm bodies appear to arise by budding from the limiting membrane of the intracellular vesicles. Removal of surface receptor with pronase does not prevent exocytosis of internalized receptor. It is proposed that the exocytosis of the approximately 50-nm bodies represents the mechanism by which the transferrin receptor is shed during reticulocyte maturation.
          Article 0 comments Cited 444 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            The mechanics of miRNA-mediated gene silencing: a look under the hood of miRISC.

            Marc R. Fabian, Nahum Sonenberg (2012)
            Since their discovery almost two decades ago, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to function by post-transcriptionally regulating protein accumulation. Understanding how miRNAs silence targeted mRNAs has been the focus of intensive research. Multiple models have been proposed, with few mechanistic details having been worked out. However, the past few years have witnessed a quantum leap forward in our understanding of the molecular mechanics of miRNA-mediated gene silencing. In this review we describe recent discoveries, with an emphasis on how miRISC post-transcriptionally controls gene expression by inhibiting translation and/or initiating mRNA decay, and how trans-acting factors control miRNA action.
            Article 0 comments Cited 342 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Eradication of established murine tumors using a novel cell-free vaccine: dendritic cell-derived exosomes.

              L Zitvogel, A Regnault, A Lozier … (1998)
              Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells with the unique capacity to induce primary and secondary immune responses in vivo. Here, we show that DCs secrete antigen presenting vesicles, called exosomes, which express functional Major Histocompatibility Complex class I and class II, and T-cell costimulatory molecules. Tumor peptide-pulsed DC-derived exosomes prime specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vivo and eradicate or suppress growth of established murine tumors in a T cell-dependent manner. Exosome-based cell-free vaccines represent an alternative to DC adoptive therapy for suppressing tumor growth.
              Article 0 comments Cited 311 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
                Bookmark
                All references

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                James R. Edgar: je333@cam.ac.uk
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Biol
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Biol
                Title: BMC Biology
                Publisher: BioMed Central (London )
                ISSN (Electronic): 1741-7007
                Publication date (Electronic): 13 June 2016
                Publication date PMC-release: 13 June 2016
                Publication date Collection: 2016
                Volume: 14
                Electronic Location Identifier: 46
                Affiliations
                Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0XY UK
                Article
                Publisher ID: 268
                DOI: 10.1186/s12915-016-0268-z
                PMC ID: 4906597
                PubMed ID: 27296830
                SO-VID: c46e56de-8e51-4b8b-a6cf-0cf413e29c83
                Copyright © © Edgar. 2016
                License:

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                Categories
                Subject: Question and Answer
                Custom metadata
                issue-copyright-statement © The Author(s) 2016

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Life sciences
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Life sciences

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                scite_

                Similar content539

                See all similar

                Cited by127

                See all cited by

                Most referenced authors777

                See all reference authors