<p>Targetting Exosomes as a New Biomarker and Therapeutic Approach for Alzheimer’s Disease</p>

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that mainly occurs in old age and involves progressive cognitive impairment. AD has become a major global issue for public health, with approximately 24 million people currently affected by the disease. Estimates indicted that this number will quadruple by 2050. Because of the high incidence of AD, there is an urgent need to develop new strategies to diagnose and treat AD. Many recent studies have indicated the multiple, yet somewhat controversial, roles of exosomes in AD. Although the underlying mechanisms by which exosomes play a role in AD are still unknown, current evidence suggests that exosomes can carry and spread toxic amyloid-beta, and hyperphosphorylated tau, between cells, and then induce apoptosis, thus contributing to the loss of neurons. In addition, exosomes appear to possess the ability to reduce brain amyloid-beta, and tau hyperphosphorylation, and transfer neuroprotective substances between neural cells. The accumulating data brings hope that the application of exosomes may be helpful for early diagnostics and the identification of new therapeutic targets for AD. Here, we summarized the various roles of exosomes, and how they might relate to the pathogenesis of AD. We also highlight the potential application of exosomes as a therapeutic option in AD therapy.

RAB5A is associated with genes involved in exosome secretion: Integration of bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation

“…Scientists remarkably consider exosomes owing to their roles in the progression of various diseases 49,50 . Discovering exosome biogenesis regulatory mechanisms can aid us to prevent or predict their detrimental effects.…”

Galectin-3: a key player in microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and Alzheimer's disease

“…This molecule has been shown to be secreted and exported from cells by a novel, alternative secretory pathway including specific vesicles and/or exosomes [ 32 – 34 ]. Modulation of Gal-3 secretion by exosomes is an interesting concept and potential therapeutic approach because our recent review shows that naturally occurring or engineered exosomes derived from stem cells, or potentially other cell types, provide therapeutic effects in AD [ 35 , 36 ]. Moreover, recent experiments have shown that Gal-3 can shuttle between the cytoplasm and nucleus across the nuclear pore complex in a dynamic process [ 37 ].…”

Factors Affecting Extracellular Vesicles Based Drug Delivery Systems

“…They further showed that modification of BMEVs with folate could enhance tumor-targeting ability as compared to the free drug [ 133 ]. Recently, because many clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using synthetic drugs have failed [ 136 , 137 , 138 ], scientists are trying to develop targeted delivery using EVs and developing precision medicine-loaded EVs for the treatment of AD [ 139 , 140 ]. Plant-derived traditional medicine have been studied in preclinical models of AD [ 141 , 142 , 143 ].…”