title: Extracellular vesicles and viruses: Are they close relatives?
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nolte-'t Hoen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cremer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201; rgallo@ihv.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.affiliation: Section of Intercellular Interactions, Eunice Kennedy-Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
authors.forename: Leonid B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Margolis
mesh_terms: D000071480:APOBEC-3G Deaminase / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D055354:Exosomes / Q000502:physiology; D000067128:Extracellular Vesicles / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000502:physiology; D014771:Virion / Q000502:physiology; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D000071480:APOBEC-3G Deaminase
keywords: defective viruses; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; infection; viruses