Stem Cell-derived Exosome Application
- Endothelial Progenitor Cell Source

As a kind of stem cell, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have stem cell-specific self-renewal ability and the ability to differentiate into mature vascular endothelial cells (ECs). EPC-mediated angiogenesis is the basis of many biology, and promoting vascular remodeling is an indispensable way in the treatment of many diseases. Creative Biolabs has captured the feasibility of EPC-derived exosomes (EPC-Exos) in vascular remodeling while focusing on the development of Exo applications.

Fig.1 EPC-derived extracellular vesicles translation to the clinic.^1,2

Endothelial Progenitor Cell-derived Exosomes (EPC-Exos) that Play a Key Role in Vascular Remodeling

EPCs are broadly defined as precursors of vascular EC and are the source of vascular remodeling. The participation of EPCs in vascular remodeling mainly relies on the following two pathways.

EPC can migrate to the injury site, differentiate into mature EC, and promote angiogenesis;
EPCs do not directly differentiate into mature EC but activate mature EC through paracrine pathway to promote angiogenesis.

In the above-mentioned paracrine pathway, EPC-Exos contains a variety of regulatory signaling molecules, which play a crucial role in EPC-mediated vascular remodeling. Many studies have even shown that EPC-Exos can perfectly replace EPCs and play a significant medicinal effect in various diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, bone disease, and tissue damage. Most importantly, EPC-Exos have fewer limitations and more advantages in medicinal applications.

Promoting vascular remodeling property
Extremely small diameter of 30-150nm
High stability due to wrapping by lipid membrane
Easily absorbed by recipient cells because they come from cells
Very low immunogenicity due to lack of recognized antigen-associated molecules
No ethical issues as a biological product
Easily modified from endogenous or exogenous sources.

Medicinal Feasibility of EPC-Exos-promoted Vascular Remodeling

Heart disease

EPC-Exos can promote myocardial cell proliferation and angiogenesis, improve hemodynamic function and inhibit myocardial fibrosis. This may be related to the integrin-linked kinase, sonic hedgehog, miR-363-3p carried by EPC-Exos, miR-218-5p, miR-124, miR-1290, miR-10b-5p, and other molecules. Therefore, EPC-Exos exerts excellent effects in the treatment of heart diseases such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, and heart injury.

Respiratory diseases

miR-126 abundant in EPC-Exos can target pulmonary microvascular EC (PMVECs) to activate downstream signaling pathways (such as VEGF pathway, AKT pathway, etc.) to promote the proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis of PMVECs. In addition, EPC-Exos can protect the damaged lung microstructure by reducing the alveolar inflammatory response and pulmonary edema and enhancing the regeneration ability of alveolar epithelial cells. Because of these effects, EPC-Exos has great potential in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases.

Bone disease

Kidney disease

By targeting renal tubular epithelial cells and surrounding vascular EC, miR-126 and anti-apoptotic molecules carried by EPC-Exos can promote the proliferation of these cells and inhibit the apoptosis of these cells to restore kidney damage. In addition, miR-486-5p and miR-21-5p carried by EPC-Exos can repair kidney injury by restoring the activity of vascular EC and reducing the inflammatory response and oxidative stress, respectively. EPC-Exos also attenuate renal fibrosis by inhibiting transforming growth factor-β-mediated fibroblast activity in the kidney.

Diabetes

miR-126 and miR-296 carried by EPC-Exos promote the proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis of islet EC (LECs) by activating the PI3K signaling pathway in LECs to maintain insulin secretion. In addition, EPC-Exos can accelerate diabetes-associated wound healing by promoting skin vascularization and restore diabetes-associated blood vessel blockage by inhibiting inflammation.

Overall, EPC-Exos-mediated vascular remodeling plays a crucial role in the treatment of many diseases, especially the regulation of signaling pathways involved in some miRNAs that have been demonstrated in the EPC-Exos lumen. Creative Biolabs provides a one-stop service for Exos to help you extract and identify Exos and study their mechanisms in vivo and in vitro. If you also want to fully tap the feasibility of Exos in therapy, please contact us.

References

Salybekov, AA.; et al. Latest advances in endothelial progenitor cell-derived extracellular vesicles translation to the clinic. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. 2021, 8:734562.
under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification.

Plant Exosome Isolation