Ceramides in Extracellular Vesicles Increase with Age and Induce Cellular Senescence

Much of the signaling that passes between cells travels via varieties of extracellular vesicle, tiny membrane-bound packages that contain a wide variety of presently poorly cataloged molecules. The varieties of vesicle are also poorly catalogued, and are at present given a loose taxonomy based on size. No doubt there are many subtypes within any given size category, depending on circumstance and mechanism, with the contents varying characteristically by subtype. Nothing is simple in cellular biology. Vesicles are currently a subject of growing interest in many fields of medical research. In regenerative medicine, for example, it is hoped that harvesting vesicles from stem cells in culture and delivering them to patients can replicate much of the beneficial effects of stem cell therapies, but at a lower cost and with fewer complicating factors. Vesicles should not provoke immune reactions, for example, and thus do not require patient-matched or otherwise carefully chosen and engineered cells. In most cell therapies used to date, the transplanted cells die out quite rapidly. Beneficial outcomes result from the signals that they secrete, inducing changes in the native cell behavior. Thus why not just stop using the cells for this class of treatment? Another area of interest is the way in which senescent cells manage to wreak havoc in tissues even when they are present in small numbers. They generate a potent mix of signals that creates chronic inflammation, destruc...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs