Extracellular vesicles and viruses: Are they close relatives?

TLDR

Extracellular vesicles are small phospholipid‑enclosed particles carrying miRNA that function as a novel cell–cell communication system, with physical and biogenetic traits resembling retroviruses and, when produced by infected cells, incorporating viral proteins and RNA to either facilitate or suppress viral infection. The study aims to decipher EV‑cell interaction mechanisms to design EVs that inhibit viral infection and serve as targeted drug‑delivery vehicles.

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by various cells are small phospholipid membrane-enclosed entities that can carry miRNA. They are now central to research in many fields of biology because they seem to constitute a new system of cell–cell communication. Physical and chemical characteristics of many EVs, as well as their biogenesis pathways, resemble those of retroviruses. Moreover, EVs generated by virus-infected cells can incorporate viral proteins and fragments of viral RNA, being thus indistinguishable from defective (noninfectious) retroviruses. EVs, depending on the proteins and genetic material incorporated in them, play a significant role in viral infection, both facilitating and suppressing it. Deciphering the mechanisms of EV-cell interactions may facilitate the design of EVs that inhibit viral infection and can be used as vehicles for targeted drug delivery.