Clinical Insights into the Use of Extracellular Vesicles as a Diagnostic Tool in Veterinary Medicine

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) were originally discovered over 80 years ago and initially considered metabolic waste products of cells. In the early 2000s, EVs were found to transport mRNA and microRNA to other receptor cells to mediate physiological functions, and research on the diagnostic and therapeutic utility of EVs has rapidly blossomed since that time.  EVs carry specific proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids that match those of the secreting cell. Their contents are contained within a lipid bilayer that safeguards their content from circulating nucleases, making them more stable than free RNA and DNA in blood and other bodily fluids. EVs are produced by healthy and diseased cells and mediate many biological processes including intercellular communication, immunomodulation, disease progression, and tissue repair. This lecture will review the basic structure and function of EVs and provide a clinically relevant perspective on how EVs can be used as a diagnostic tool for a variety of conditions in human and veterinary medicine. The use of EVs as a liquid biopsy tool may improve our ability to non-invasively diagnose and prognosticate disease in our veterinary patients.