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Review
. 2020 Dec 29:15:10519-10538.
doi: 10.2147/IJN.S277190. eCollection 2020.

Roles of Exosomes in Ocular Diseases

Jia Liu  1 , Feng Jiang  2 , Yu Jiang  1 , Yicheng Wang  1 , Zelin Li  1 , Xuefeng Shi  3   4   5   6 , Yanping Zhu  1 , Hongbo Wang  1 , Zhuhong Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

Roles of Exosomes in Ocular Diseases

Jia Liu et al. Int J Nanomedicine. .

Abstract

Exosomes, nanoscale vesicles with a diameter of 30 to 150 nm, are composed of a lipid bilayer, protein, and genetic material. Exosomes are secreted by virtually all types of cells in the human body. They have key functions in cell-to-cell communication, immune regulation, inflammatory response, and neovascularization. Mounting evidence indicates that exosomes play an important role in various diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and brain diseases; however, the role that exosomes play in eye diseases has not yet been rigorously studied. This review covers current exosome research as it relates to ocular diseases including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, autoimmune uveitis, glaucoma, traumatic optic neuropathies, corneal diseases, retinopathy of prematurity, and uveal melanoma. In addition, we discuss recent advances in the biological functions of exosomes, focusing on the toxicity of exosomes and the use of exosomes as biomarkers and drug delivery vesicles. Finally, we summarize the primary considerations and challenges to be taken into account for the effective applications of exosomes.

Keywords: drug delivery; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; ocular diseases; retina.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest for this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biogenesis of exosomes. Exosome formation originates from the early endosomes formed by plasma membrane invagination. The membranes of mature late endosomes buds inward to form ILVs and transform into MVBs. After the MVBs fuse with the plasma membrane, ILVs are released into the extracellular space to form exosomes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The main components of exosomes. The lipid bilayer of exosomes contains specific lipids such as cholesterol and phosphatidylserine, which can protect the contents from degradation. In addition, various membrane proteins (eg, Tetraspanins, Annexins, Flotillin, and integrin proteins) and intracapsular proteins (eg, HSP70, HSP90, and Rab GTPases) are present in exosomes, each of which assumes different roles. ESCRT (endosomal sorting complex required for transport) is mainly involved in the generation of exosomes. DNA, mRNA, and miRNA are the key genetic materials in exosomes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Major methods of exosome isolation. (A) Differential ultracentrifugation (B) Density-gradient separation (C) Size exclusion chromatography (D) Immunological isolation (E) Precipitation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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