Extracellular Vesicles in Feto-Maternal Crosstalk and Pregnancy Disorders

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) actively participate in inter-cellular crosstalk and have progressively emerged as key players of organized communities of cells within multicellular organisms in health and disease. For these reasons, EVs are attracting the attention of many investigators across different biomedical fields. In this scenario, the possibility to study specific placental-derived EVs in the maternal peripheral blood may open novel perspectives in the development of new early biomarkers for major obstetric pathological conditions. Here we reviewed the involvement of EVs in feto-maternal crosstalk mechanisms, both in physiological and pathological conditions (preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, preterm labor, gestational diabetes mellitus), also underlining the usefulness of EV characterization in maternal-fetal medicine.

Keywords: fetal growth restriction; gestational diabetes mellitus; placental extracellular vesicles; pre-eclampsia; preterm-labor; syncytiotrophoblast.

Figure 1

Extracellular vesicle sub-types released from placenta in normal pregnancies. Three main subsets of extracellular vesicles (EVs), with overlapping dimensions, have been traditionally described: Exosomes (orange, 30–150 nm) stem from the intracellular endosomal compartments and express tetraspanins; microvesicles (blue, 50–1000 nm) are produced by budding and express the phenotype of their parental cells; and apoptotic bodies (red, 50–2000 nm) are released by cells undergoing apoptosis and express phospatydilserine on their surface. As shown, the three EV subsets display overlapping dimensions. Under normal conditions, small numbers of EVs are released from the placenta and reach the maternal circulation. EVs participate in the crosstalk between feto–placental and mother tissues, with a relevant exchange of information. The appropriate function of those EVs guarantees successful pregnancies, as well as the healthy fetal development. This figure has been created from Servier Medical Art, licensed under Creative Common Attribution 3.0 Generic License http://smart.servier.com/.