International Immunology Advance Access originally published online on May 20, 2005
International Immunology 2005 17(7):879-887; doi:10.1093/intimm/dxh267
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exosomal-like vesicles are present in human blood plasma
1 Institut National de la santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 520, Institut Curie, 12 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France
2 Laboratoire de Physiologie, Université de Bordeaux II, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux cedex, France
3 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité mixte de recherche 144, Institut Curie, Paris, France
Correspondence to: M. P. Caby; E-mail: marie-pierre.caby{at}curie.fr
Exosomes are small membrane vesicles (5090 nm in diameter) secreted by most hematopoietic cells. We provide here the first evidence for the presence of exosomes in vivo, in the blood. Plasma samples of all healthy donors tested (n = 15) contain vesicles that are similar in shape, size and density to the previously described exosomes. They were clearly identified by electron microscopy after isolation by differential ultracentrifugation or immunoisolation with CD63-coated latex beads. We performed their biochemical characterization by western blot analysis and by flow cytometry after vesicle adsorption onto latex beads using a panel of mAbs. We observed that these plasma-derived vesicles contain tetraspanin molecules such as CD63, CD9, CD81 as well as class I and class II MHC molecules and Lamp-2 (i.e. proteins that are known to be enriched in exosomes). In addition, these vesicles float on sucrose gradient at a density similar to exosomes. Our results demonstrate that blood is a physiological fluid for exosome circulation in the body, suggesting their role in cellcell or organorgan communications as carriers for molecules that need to reach distant cell targets.
Keywords: antigen presentation, cellcell communication, exosomes, microvesicles
Transmitting editor: H. Ploegh
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. Mathivanan, J. W. E. Lim, B. J. Tauro, H. Ji, R. L. Moritz, and R. J. Simpson Proteomics Analysis of A33 Immunoaffinity-purified Exosomes Released from the Human Colon Tumor Cell Line LIM1215 Reveals a Tissue-specific Protein Signature Mol. Cell. Proteomics, February 1, 2010; 9(2): 197 - 208. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
I. Parolini, C. Federici, C. Raggi, L. Lugini, S. Palleschi, A. De Milito, C. Coscia, E. Iessi, M. Logozzi, A. Molinari, et al. Microenvironmental pH Is a Key Factor for Exosome Traffic in Tumor Cells J. Biol. Chem., December 4, 2009; 284(49): 34211 - 34222. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Blanc, J. Liu, M. Vidal, J. A. Chasis, X. An, and N. Mohandas The water channel aquaporin-1 partitions into exosomes during reticulocyte maturation: implication for the regulation of cell volume Blood, October 29, 2009; 114(18): 3928 - 3934. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
F. H. Jansen, J. Krijgsveld, A. van Rijswijk, G.-J. van den Bemd, M. S. van den Berg, W. M. van Weerden, R. Willemsen, L. J. Dekker, T. M. Luider, and G. Jenster Exosomal Secretion of Cytoplasmic Prostate Cancer Xenograft-derived Proteins Mol. Cell. Proteomics, June 1, 2009; 8(6): 1192 - 1205. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Kesimer, M. Scull, B. Brighton, G. DeMaria, K. Burns, W. O'Neal, R. J. Pickles, and J. K. Sheehan Characterization of exosome-like vesicles released from human tracheobronchial ciliated epithelium: a possible role in innate defense FASEB J, June 1, 2009; 23(6): 1858 - 1868. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Perez-Casal, C. Downey, B. Cutillas-Moreno, M. Zuzel, K. Fukudome, and C. H. Toh Microparticle-associated endothelial protein C receptor and the induction of cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects Haematologica, March 1, 2009; 94(3): 387 - 394. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. D. Walker, C. L. Maier, and J. S. Pober Cytomegalovirus-Infected Human Endothelial Cells Can Stimulate Allogeneic CD4+ Memory T Cells by Releasing Antigenic Exosomes J. Immunol., February 1, 2009; 182(3): 1548 - 1559. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G.-J. Wang, Y. Liu, A. Qin, S. V. Shah, Z.-b. Deng, X. Xiang, Z. Cheng, C. Liu, J. Wang, L. Zhang, et al. Thymus Exosomes-Like Particles Induce Regulatory T Cells J. Immunol., October 15, 2008; 181(8): 5242 - 5248. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. S. Mitchell, R. K. Parkin, E. M. Kroh, B. R. Fritz, S. K. Wyman, E. L. Pogosova-Agadjanyan, A. Peterson, J. Noteboom, K. C. O'Briant, A. Allen, et al. Circulating microRNAs as stable blood-based markers for cancer detection PNAS, July 29, 2008; 105(30): 10513 - 10518. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. A. Sharples, L. J. Vella, R. M. Nisbet, R. Naylor, K. Perez, K. J. Barnham, C. L. Masters, and A. F. Hill Inhibition of {gamma}-secretase causes increased secretion of amyloid precursor protein C-terminal fragments in association with exosomes FASEB J, May 1, 2008; 22(5): 1469 - 1478. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. Houali, X. Wang, Y. Shimizu, D. Djennaoui, J. Nicholls, S. Fiorini, A. Bouguermouh, and T. Ooka A New Diagnostic Marker for Secreted Epstein-Barr Virus Encoded LMP1 and BARF1 Oncoproteins in the Serum and Saliva of Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Clin. Cancer Res., September 1, 2007; 13(17): 4993 - 5000. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. H. Kim, N. R. Bianco, W. J. Shufesky, A. E. Morelli, and P. D. Robbins MHC Class II+ Exosomes in Plasma Suppress Inflammation in an Antigen-Specific and Fas Ligand/Fas-Dependent Manner J. Immunol., August 15, 2007; 179(4): 2235 - 2241. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Clayton, J. P. Mitchell, J. Court, M. D. Mason, and Z. Tabi Human Tumor-Derived Exosomes Selectively Impair Lymphocyte Responses to Interleukin-2 Cancer Res., August 1, 2007; 67(15): 7458 - 7466. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Admyre, S. M. Johansson, K. R. Qazi, J.-J. Filen, R. Lahesmaa, M. Norman, E. P. A. Neve, A. Scheynius, and S. Gabrielsson Exosomes with Immune Modulatory Features Are Present in Human Breast Milk J. Immunol., August 1, 2007; 179(3): 1969 - 1978. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Obregon, B. Rothen-Rutishauser, S. K. Gitahi, P. Gehr, and L. P. Nicod Exovesicles from Human Activated Dendritic Cells Fuse with Resting Dendritic Cells, Allowing Them to Present Alloantigens Am. J. Pathol., December 1, 2006; 169(6): 2127 - 2136. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Calzolari, C. Raggi, S. Deaglio, N. M. Sposi, M. Stafsnes, K. Fecchi, I. Parolini, F. Malavasi, C. Peschle, M. Sargiacomo, et al. TfR2 localizes in lipid raft domains and is released in exosomes to activate signal transduction along the MAPK pathway J. Cell Sci., November 1, 2006; 119(21): 4486 - 4498. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. Pisitkun, R. Johnstone, and M. A. Knepper Discovery of Urinary Biomarkers Mol. Cell. Proteomics, October 1, 2006; 5(10): 1760 - 1771. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. Valenti, V. Huber, P. Filipazzi, L. Pilla, G. Sovena, A. Villa, A. Corbelli, S. Fais, G. Parmiani, and L. Rivoltini Human Tumor-Released Microvesicles Promote the Differentiation of Myeloid Cells with Transforming Growth Factor-{beta}-Mediated Suppressive Activity on T Lymphocytes. Cancer Res., September 15, 2006; 66(18): 9290 - 9298. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. van Niel, I. Porto-Carreiro, S. Simoes, and G. Raposo Exosomes: a common pathway for a specialized function. J. Biochem., July 1, 2006; 140(1): 13 - 21. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Robertson, S. A. Booth, D. R. Beniac, M. B. Coulthart, T. F. Booth, and A. McNicol Cellular prion protein is released on exosomes from activated platelets Blood, May 15, 2006; 107(10): 3907 - 3911. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||











