Lecture 11- Extracellular Vesicles I: Discovery

Question 1

major subtypes of EV

Answer 1

exosomes
microvesicles
apoptotic bodies

Question 2

exosome features

Answer 2

small, up to 200nm, used in the endocytic pathway, viruses can package themselves in these

Question 3

microvesicle features

Answer 3

often slightly larger, up to 1000nm, made of budding plasma membrane

Question 4

apoptotic bodies

Answer 4

larger, over 100nm, used during apoptosis in ‘blebbing’

Question 5

what do exosomes form from

Answer 5

early endosome- can acquire all the necessary proteins, nucleic acids etc needed for its function

Question 6

evidence of EV secretion

Answer 6

transferrin receptors seeming to disappear from immature RBCs in sheep, but could not be identified- they were inside vesicles

Question 7

what roles do EVs play in iron functioning

Answer 7

Tf/TfR protein complex acidifies iron into Fe2+ using proton pumps

Question 8

proof of cargo delivery

Answer 8

isolation and analysis of immune cell vesicles- located proteins such as MHC class II, which are known to activate T cells

Question 9

examples of EVs being used in cell-cell communication

Answer 9

mast cell MHCII
RNA cargo in glioblastoma cells, ‘programming’ nearby cells in areas such as immune response and cell proliferation, angiogenic (helping develop blood vessels) proteins, SEM images and RNA analysis showed this association

Question 10

applications of EVs

Answer 10

diagnostic biomarkers in GBM, exploitation of the process in therapeutics e.g. using EVs as a vector for gene therapy