Abstract

Interpreting Extracellular Vesicles as Snapshots of Cells

Esther Nolte-‘t Hoen, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University

Our research focuses on the role of EV in communication between cells at steady state and during immune activation or microbial infection. Using high-resolution flow cytometric analysis of single EV, we previously showed that EV populations are highly heterogeneous. Our recent work on EV released by immune cells and virus-infected cells indicates that both spatial and temporal elements drive EV heterogeneity. This has implications for interpreting EV as snapshots of cells. Recognition and in-depth analysis of EV heterogeneity can facilitate the search for refined EV-based biomarkers. Moreover it can help to dissect differences in the formation and function of distinct EV populations. Examples will be shown on how environmental triggers can lead to changes in the type of released EV and their small non-coding RNA content. Additionally, it will be explained how advanced flow cytometry-based technologies can be applied to study EV release dynamics and to isolate EV subpopulations for downstream functional analysis.