"Liquid biopsy" - extracellular vesicles as potential novel players towards precision medicine in asthma

Galectin-10 in serum extracellular vesicles reflects asthma pathophysiology

BACKGROUND

Novel biomarkers (BMs) are urgently needed for bronchial asthma (BA) with various phenotypes and endotypes.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to identify novel BMs reflecting tissue pathology from serum extracellular vesicles (EVs).

METHODS

We performed data-independent acquisition of serum EVs from 4 healthy controls, 4 noneosinophilic asthma (NEA) patients, and 4 eosinophilic asthma (EA) patients to identify novel BMs for BA. We confirmed EA-specific BMs via data-independent acquisition validation in 61 BA patients and 23 controls. To further validate these findings, we performed data-independent acquisition for 6 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps and 7 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

RESULTS

We identified 3032 proteins, 23 of which exhibited differential expression in EA. Ingenuity pathway analysis revealed that protein signatures from each phenotype reflected disease characteristics. Validation revealed 5 EA-specific BMs, including galectin-10 (Gal10), eosinophil peroxidase, major basic protein, eosinophil-derived neurotoxin, and arachidonate 15-lipoxygenase. The potential of Gal10 in EVs was superior to that of eosinophils in terms of diagnostic capability and detection of airway obstruction. In rhinosinusitis patients, 1752 and 8413 proteins were identified from EVs and tissues, respectively. Among 11 BMs identified in EVs and tissues from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, 5 (including Gal10 and eosinophil peroxidase) showed significant correlations between EVs and tissues. Gal10 release from EVs was implicated in eosinophil extracellular trapped cell death in vitro and in vivo.

CONCLUSION

Novel BMs such as Gal10 from serum EVs reflect disease pathophysiology in BA and may represent a new target for liquid biopsy approaches.

Cellular senescence in chronic lung diseases from newborns to the elderly: An update literature review

The role of cellular senescence in age-related diseases has been fully recognized. In various age-related-chronic lung diseases, the function of alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) is impaired and alveolar regeneration disorders, especially in bronchopulmonary dysplasia，pulmonary fibrosis (PF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, etc. Except for age-related-chronic lung diseases, an increasing number of studies are exploring the role of cellular senescence in developmental chronic lung diseases, which typically originate in childhood and even in the neonatal period. This review provides an overview of cellular senescence and lung diseases from newborns to the elderly, attempting to draw attention to the relationship between cellular senescence and developmental lung diseases.

Hyperthermic shift and cell engineering increase small extracellular vesicle production in HEK293F cells

Although small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) have promising features as an emerging therapeutic format for a broad spectrum of applications, for example, blood-brain-barrier permeability, low immunogenicity, and targeted delivery, economic manufacturability will be a crucial factor for the therapeutic applicability of sEVs. In the past, bioprocess optimization and cell line engineering improved titers of classical biologics multifold. We therefore performed a design of experiments (DoE) screening to identify beneficial bioprocess conditions for sEV production in HEK293F suspension cells. Short-term hyperthermia at 40°C elevated volumetric productivity 5.4-fold while sEVs displayed improved exosomal characteristics and cells retained >90% viability. Investigating the effects of hyperthermia via transcriptomics and proteomics analyses, an expectable, cellular heat-shock response was found together with an upregulation of many exosome biogenesis and vesicle trafficking related molecules, which could cause the productivity boost in tandem with heat shock proteins (HSPs), like HSP90 and HSC70. Because of these findings, a selection of 44 genes associated with exosome biogenesis, vesicle secretion machinery, or heat-shock response was screened for their influence on sEV production. Overexpression of six genes, CHMP1A, CHMP3, CHMP5, VPS28, CD82, and EZR, significantly increased both sEV secretion and titer, making them suitable targets for cell line engineering.