Editorial: The role of exosomes and organokines in metabolic and endocrine disease

Abstract

The field of exosomes and organokines biology and metabolism is rapidly expanding. Increasing numbers of exosomal miRNA have also been used as biomarkers for metabolic diseases in clinical settings, such as miR-34a,miR-122,miR-192,miR-142, and so on (1-4). Several biological factors including miR-130a-3p and miR-3075 are packaged into exosomes and then transported into specific organs to regulate local metabolism (5-7). Novel-identified organokines (adipokines, myokines, hepatokines) have been reported to play crucial roles in the regulation of whole-body metabolism homeostasis (8-10) affecting the regulation of glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, insulin sensitivity, oxidative stress, low-grade inflammation and so on. The goal of this Research Topic "The Role of Exosomes and Organokines in Metabolic and Endocrine Disease" is to highlight a wide range of exosomes and organokines originating from the metabolic organs that mediate inter-organ crosstalk and participate in the development of metabolic diseases. Six high-quality papers (Pang et al., Chen et al., Sun et al., Mei et al., Wang et al.,11) were accepted by the Frontiers editorial team for publication in the Frontiers in Endocrinology. They provide new information to the advancement of organokines and exosome-based diagnostics and therapeutic approaches for metabolic and endocrine diseases.In this Research Topic, Pang et al. first described the expression profile of plasma exosomal long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). That study demonstrated that 162 aberrantly expressed exosomal lncRNAs including 77 up-regulated and 85 down-regulated were associated with the pathogenesis of T1DM. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis was performed and indicated that these differentially expressed lncRNAs were involved in oxidative phosphorylation. This work provided a novel insight into the pathogenesis of T1DM and a foundation for using exosomal lncRNAs as potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for T1DM.