What Are Microvesicles?
Extracellular vesicles, including exosomes and microvesicles, are nanoscale, membrane-enclosed vesicles that have evolved as an intercellular messenger system to protect and deliver functional macromolecules. They are secreted by most cells and can contain characteristic lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acids such as mRNA and microRNAs. They can signal through the binding and activation of membrane receptors or through the delivery of their cargo into the cytosol of target cells. These targeted messengers can transport and protect complex biologically active molecules that alter the function of recipient cells.
Exosomes and microvesicles act as messengers to regulate the functions of neighboring or distant cells and have been shown to regulate functions such as cell survival, proliferation, inflammation and tissue regeneration. Furthermore, research has shown that exogenously-administered exosomes and microvesicles can modify cellular activities, thereby supporting their therapeutic potential. Their size, low or null immunogenicity and ability to communicate in native cellular language potentially makes them an exciting new class of therapeutic agents with the potential to expand our ability to address complex biological responses. Since exosomes and microvesicles are a cell-free substance, they can be stored, handled, reconstituted and administered in similar fashion to common biopharmaceutical products such as antibodies.
Vesicor’s Microvesicle Technology
Vesicor has developed a genetically engineered microvesicle (ecm) that is generated from a microvesicle-producing human embryonic kidney cell line by gene transfection of the kidney cells with our company specific RNA cellular control distribution (CCD) DNA vectors.