Ricerc@Sapienza

Extracellular-released vesicles (EVs), such as microvesicles (MV) and exosomes (Exo)
provide a new type of inter-cellular communication, directly transferring a ready to use
box of information, consisting of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. In the nervous
system, EVs participate to neuron-glial cross-talk, a bidirectional communication
important to preserve brain homeostasis and, when dysfunctional, involved in several
CNS diseases. We investigated whether microglia-derived EVs could be used to transfer
a protective phenotype to dysfunctional microglia in the context of a brain tumor.
When MV, isolated from microglia stimulated with LPS/IFNg were brain injected in
glioma-bearing mice, we observed a phenotype switch of tumor associated myeloid
cells (TAMs) and a reduction of tumor size. Our findings indicate that the MV cargo,
which contains upregulated transcripts for several inflammation-related genes, can
transfer information in the brain of glioma bearing mice modifying microglial gene
expression, reducing neuronal death and glioma invasion, thus promoting the recovery
of brain homeostasis.