外泌体在心血管疾病中的研究进展

Research progression of exosome in cardiovascular disease

外泌体是来源于细胞的脂质微囊泡，内含多种蛋白质、脂质、核酸，可通过外泌体运输到靶细胞，影响靶细胞生物学活性。研究表明，外泌体介导细胞问信号传递在心肌损伤、血管再生、心脏重塑以及动脉粥样斑块形成等过程中发挥重要作用，因而具有潜在的临床应用价值，可能成为心血管疾病早期诊断、疗效监测、预后判断的循环标志物，以及更为有效的CVD靶向治疗药物载体。

Exosomes are nanosized lipid vesicles released from cells. They are believed to contain proteins, lipids and nucleic acid cargos, and are capable of deliver their cargos to recipient ceils, which in turn alter the expression of genes in neighboring cells. An increasing body of evidence indicates that they play a pivotal role in cell-to-cell communication, which is hijacked during various physiological and pathological conditions, such as myocardial damage, angiogenesis, cardiac remodeling and atherogenesis plaque formation. Further research of intercellular communication mediated by exosomes may potentially aid in the possible application of exosomes for biomarker discovery, curative effects, as well as prognosis of cardiovascular diseases, even the use of exosomes as a therapeutic drug delivery system on the basis of the exosome＇s ability to target specific cells, and transfer genetic materials.