Exosomes for regenerative, immunosuppressive, neuroprotective, and oncosuppressive therapies
Exosomes (EV) are small vesicles ensuring transport of molecules between cells throughout the body. EVs contain specific signatures and have been shown to strongly impact on the fate of recipient cells. Their small size (<1μm) plus biological and physical functions make them perfect candidates as therapeutic agents in several fields (e.g. immune therapy, cell-free regenerative medicine, etc). Despite their great potential for biomedicine, there is still a lack of standards for EV isolation and quantification. In addition, specific in vitro potency assays are required to better predict their potential therapeutic activity. There is no rational set of criteria available so far to design synthetic EVs for specific clinical tasks. _x000D_
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Networking and cooperation of research&clinical centers of scientific excellence from transnational area is therefore essential to address these issues. Within EXOTHERA, we plan to develop an integrative approach that allows correlating physical and molecular properties of EVs with their function and therapeutic role. As short-term goals we will define best protocols for EV purification, quantification and sorting, characterize EVs physically and chemically, study their interaction with recipient cells, and establish a comprehensive correlation among all these properties, with_x000D_
the long-term view of optimizing EV-based therapeutic strategies in three relevant clinical frameworks: pseudoarthrosis&bone fracture healing, glioblastoma and spinal cord injury.