title: Extracellular vesicles in blood, milk and body fluids of the female and male urogenital tract and with special regard to reproduction.
abstract: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released from almost all cells and tissues. They are able to transport substances (e.g. proteins, RNA or DNA) at higher concentrations than in their environment and may adhere in a receptor-controlled manner to specific cells or tissues in order to release their content into the respective target structure. Blood contains high concentrations of EVs mainly derived from platelets, and, at a smaller amount, from erythrocytes. The female and male reproductive tracts produce EVs which may be associated with fertility or infertility and are released into body fluids and mucosas of the urogenital organs. In this review, the currently relevant detection methods are presented and critically compared. During pregnancy, placenta-derived EVs are dynamically detectable in peripheral blood with changing profiles depending upon progress of pregnancy and different pregnancy-associated pathologies, such as preeclampsia. EVs offer novel non-invasive diagnostic tools which may reflect the situation of the placenta and the foetus. EVs in urine have the potential of reflecting urogenital diseases including cancers of the neighbouring organs. Several methods for detection, quantification and phenotyping of EVs have been established, which include electron microscopy, flow cytometry, ELISA-like methods, Western blotting and analyses based on Brownian motion. This review article summarises the current knowledge about EVs in blood and cord blood, in the different compartments of the male and female reproductive tracts, in trophoblast cells from normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies, in placenta ex vivo perfusate, in the amniotic fluid, and in breast milk, as well as their potential effects on natural killer cells as possible targets.
authors.affiliation: a Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, School of Biomedicine, University of Manchester, and Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre, University Research , Manchester , UK .
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology , Medical School, University of Pécs , Pécs , Hungary .
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Balassa
authors.affiliation: c Microtrac GmbH , Krefeld , Germany .
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Benen
authors.affiliation: d Department of Physiology and Immunology , Medical Faculty, University of Rijeka , Rijeka , Croatia .
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dominovic
authors.affiliation: e Repro Inova Immunology Laboratory , Sofia , Bulgaria .
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Elmadjian
authors.affiliation: f Department of Obstetrics , Gynecology and Perinatology, First Moscow State Medical University , Moscow , Russia .
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Florova
authors.affiliation: g Laboratory of Tumor and Development Biology , GIGA-R, University of Liège , Liège , Belgium .
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Fransolet
authors.affiliation: h Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics, General University Hospital and First Faculty of Medicine , Charles University Prague , Czech Republic .|i Institute of Biophysics and Informatics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University , Prague , Czech Republic .
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kestlerova
authors.affiliation: j Centro di Ricerca E. Menni, Fondazione Poliambulanza Istituto Ospedaliero , Brescia , Italy .
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kmiecik
authors.affiliation: k Department of Immunoneuroendocrinology , Institute of Biology and Immunology of Reproduction , Sofia , Bulgaria .
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Kostadinova
authors.affiliation: l Department of Biology , University of Crete , Crete , Greece .
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kyvelidou
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology , Medical School, University of Pécs , Pécs , Hungary .
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meggyes
authors.affiliation: m Repro Inova Immunology Laboratory , Sofia , Bulgaria .
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Mincheva
authors.affiliation: n ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic- Universitat de Barcelona , Barcelona , Spain .|o Department of Obstetrics , Placenta-Lab, University Hospital Jena , Jena , Germany .
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moro
authors.affiliation: o Department of Obstetrics , Placenta-Lab, University Hospital Jena , Jena , Germany .
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pastuschek
authors.affiliation: j Centro di Ricerca E. Menni, Fondazione Poliambulanza Istituto Ospedaliero , Brescia , Italy .
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Spoldi
authors.affiliation: p Institute of Anatomy, University Hospital, University Duisburg-Essen , Essen , Germany .
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wandernoth
authors.affiliation: o Department of Obstetrics , Placenta-Lab, University Hospital Jena , Jena , Germany .
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: q Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Fertility Disorders , Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg , Heidelberg , Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Toth
authors.affiliation: o Department of Obstetrics , Placenta-Lab, University Hospital Jena , Jena , Germany .
authors.forename: U R
authors.initials: UR
authors.lastname: Markert
mesh_terms: D001773:Blood Cells / Q000166:cytology; D000067128:Extracellular Vesicles; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D007774:Lactation; D008297:Male; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000166:cytology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014566:Urogenital System / Q000166:cytology*
keywords: Blood; exosomes; lactation; microparticles; microvesicles; ovary; platelets; pregnancy; semen; urine; uterus