Extracellular Vesicles in Health and Disease

Interest in the role of extracellular vesicles (microvesicles and exosomes) is expanding rapidly. It is now apparent that far from being merely cellular debris, these vesicles play a key role in cell-to-cell communication and signaling. Moreover, they are significantly elevated in a number of diseases. This raises the question of their direct role in pathogenesis as well as their possible use as biomarkers. This book stems from the first international meeting on "Microvesicles and Nanovesicles in Health and Disease" held at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 2010. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together, for the first time, a range of experts from around the world to discuss the latest advances in this field. Key to the study of these vesicles is the availability of methodologies for their measurement in biological fluids. A major section of the meeting focused on a range of exciting new technologies which have been developed for this purpose. The presentations at this meeting form the basis of this book, which will appeal to basic scientists, clinicians, and those developing technology for the measurement of extracellular vesicles.

SECTION 1 OVERVIEWOverview of extracellular vesicles in health and disease – Rienk Nieuwland, Edwin van der Pol and Augueste SturkThe Biogenesis of Exosomes – Michiel PegtelExtracellular vesicle-mediated epigenetic reprogramming of cells G.Camussi, F. Collino, M.C. DeregibusSECTION 2 TECHNOLOGIES FOR MEASUREMENT OF EXTRACELLULAR VESICLESAn overview of novel and conventional methods to detect extracellular vesicles. E. van der Pol, T.G. van Leeuwen, R. NieuwlandStandardization and Pre-analytical Variables Romaric Lacroix, Coralie Judicone, Stéphane Robert, Laurent Arnaud, Florence Sabatier and Françoise Dignat-GeorgeProcoagulant Assays Barry Woodhams Capture Based Assays for Extracellular Vesicles within the Blood Jean AmiralFlow Cytometry Romaric Lacroix, Stephane Robert, Florence Sabatier and Francoise Dignat-GeorgeAtomic force microscopy measurement of extracellular vesicles derived from plasma Yuana Yuana and Susanne Osanto Light scattering methods to characterize extracellular vesicles Don A Gabriel MD PhD, Sam Glover, Regina Bowling and Nigel KeyNanoparticle Tracking Analysis Rebecca Dragovic and Chris Gardiner Microvesicle and exosome proteomic analysis Extracellular vesicle proteomic analysis Andrés F. Parguiña and Ángel GarcíaSECTION 3 CLINICAL PERSPECTIVESMicrovesicles and exosomes in Cancer Rebecca Karp and Jeffrey ZwickerExtracellular Vesicles and tissue factor Pierre-Emmanuel Rautou and Nigel MackmanExtracellular vesicles in normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia Ian Sargent, Rebecca Dragovic, Dionne Tannetta and Christopher RedmanExtracellular vesicles in Cardiovascular Disease Anne-Clémence Vion, and Chantal M. BoulangerExtracellular vesicles in Immunology Els J. van der Vlist, Esther N.M Nolte’t Hoen and Marca H.M. Wauben

Paul Harrison is the Healing Foundation senior lecturer within the School of Immunity and Infection at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is a former president of the British Society of Haemostasis and Thrombosis. He has published over 120 papers and book chapters/reviews in his field. In 2010, Paul was featured as one of the top 100 healthcare scientists in the United Kingdom by the Department of Health. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles and a member of the editorial board of Platelets and the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Chris Gardiner is scientific secretary of the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis and a board member of both the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles and International Society of Laboratory Hematology. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles and the International Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. He has vast experience on the measurement and characterization of extracellular vesicles in the early detection of human disease. Ian L. Sargent is professor of reproductive science in the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, UK. He has worked in the field of reproductive immunology and trophoblast biology for more than 30 years and has over 150 publications on a wide range of topics including pre-eclampsia, feto-maternal cell traffic, HLA-G, and early human embryo development and implantation. A major focus of his work has been the isolation and characterization of placental extracellular vesicles and their role in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.