Friday, January 7, 2022
Exosomes and extracellular vesicles in environmental toxicology – new approaches to assess the impact of environmental exposures on human health
Andrea Baccarelli, MD PhD
Chair and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Director, Precision Environmental Health Laboratory
Director, P30 Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY
My lab studies a cell-to-cell communication system that the body uses to maintain homeostasis. When environmental exposures disrupt homeostatic communication patterns, we seek to detect those shifts by “listening in” to the communications mediated by circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs are tiny (<1 µm) membrane-bound vesicles, which encompass exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles and other types of vesicles, released into the bloodstream by human cells and can be easily studied in blood samples. EVs contain cargo, such as non-coding RNAs, that can act on the recipient cell to modify it. My lab found overall patterns, based on the concentrations of EVs and their cargo, before disease develops. We also determined that EV-based communication is highly sensitive to environmental exposures. However, human data on EVs as a potential mediator of environmental toxicity are limited. I will present evidence from human environmental studies indicating that EV encapsulated miRNAs may mediate effects caused by toxic exposures. In these investigations, we have shown that exposures, including air pollution, BPA and other chemicals, strongly modify the EV-miRNA profiles. I will present data demonstrating that altered EV-miRNA profiles are associated with disease. Based on current evidence, I will propose possible models for the interplay between toxicants and EVs in human health and disease.