Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Nov 27;12(23):2716.
doi: 10.3390/cells12232716.

The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

Estera Bakinowska  1 , Kajetan Kiełbowski  1 , Andrzej Pawlik  1
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

Estera Bakinowska et al. Cells. .

Abstract

Cells can communicate with each other through extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are membrane-bound structures that transport proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. These structures have been found to mediate cellular differentiation and proliferation apoptosis, as well as inflammatory responses and senescence, among others. The cargo of these vesicles may include immunomodulatory molecules, which can then contribute to the pathogenesis of various diseases. By contrast, EVs secreted by mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown important immunosuppressive and regenerative properties. Moreover, EVs can be modified and used as drug carriers to precisely deliver therapeutic agents. In this review, we aim to summarize the current evidence on the roles of EVs in the progression and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA), which are important and prevalent joint diseases with a significant global burden.

Keywords: exosomes; extracellular vesicles; mesenchymal stem cells; osteoarthritis; rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the mechanisms involving EVs that take part in the pathogenesis of RA. These structures have been found to contribute to autoimmune reactions, inflammatory responses, macrophage migration, bone impairment, angiogenesis and T cell differentiation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mesenchymal stem-cell-derived extracellular vesicles have been found to suppress cartilage degradation, inflammation and senescence, as well as pain transmission, which could be used to suppress osteoarthritis progression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Zaborowski M.P., Balaj L., Breakefield X.O., Lai C.P. Extracellular Vesicles: Composition, Biological Relevance, and Methods of Study. Bioscience. 2015;65:783–797. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biv084. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Doyle L.M., Wang M.Z. Overview of Extracellular Vesicles, Their Origin, Composition, Purpose, and Methods for Exosome Isolation and Analysis. Cells. 2019;8:727. doi: 10.3390/cells8070727. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. He S., Wu C., Xiao J., Li D., Sun Z., Li M. Endothelial extracellular vesicles modulate the macrophage phenotype: Potential implications in atherosclerosis. Scand. J. Immunol. 2018;87:e12648. doi: 10.1111/sji.12648. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pritchard A., Tousif S., Wang Y., Hough K., Khan S., Strenkowski J., Chacko B.K., Darley-Usmar V.M., Deshane J.S. Lung Tumor Cell-Derived Exosomes Promote M2 Macrophage Polarization. Cells. 2020;9:1303. doi: 10.3390/cells9051303. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bu T., Li Z., Hou Y., Sun W., Zhang R., Zhao L., Wei M., Yang G., Yuan L. Exosome-mediated delivery of inflammation-responsive. Theranostics. 2021;11:9988–10000. doi: 10.7150/thno.64229. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms