Highlights of ISEV meeting 2013, Boston (USA).- The recent boost of the
research in extracellular vesicles was displayed during the third meeting that the
international laboratories grouped into the ISEV society (www.isevmeeting.org)
celebrated on the past April in Boston (USA). In the 4-days meeting more than
700 participants all over the world gathered and discussed more than 400
presentations on extracellular vesicle research. An elevated number of
presentations highlighted the active implications of extracellular vesicles in the
progression of solid and hematological cancers, also in neurologic diseases such
as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Some molecules involved in the biogenesis and
secretion of different types of extracellular vesicles were introduced during the
presentations including the named SIMPLE protein and some galectins. Great
interest was given to novel strategies to characterize these vesicles; for example
combining microfluidic device with magnetic-resonance (NMR) in
phenotyping glioblastoma-derived vesicles, or the use of surface plasmon
resonance to detect the vesicles in tissue culture media. Several structural
laboratories highlighted the heterogeneity in the size and shape (by cryoelectron microscopy) that these vesicles may display in nature. A significant
number of "omics" studies were presented covering from proteomics,
transcriptomics through glycomics and lipidomics, helping to complete the
catalogue of molecules carried by these vesicles. Physiological roles in
inflammation, tumor and metastasis progression, drug resistance or cellular
signaling and differentiation were highly represented among the functional
aspects discussed for these vesicles. Some presentations focused on urinary
vesicles supported the utility of them in the prediction and diagnosis of different
pathologies including prostate cancer, kidney transplantation and kidney stone
formers. Another important topic in the meeting was the vesicles released by
pathogens that were highlighted not only from a diagnostic point of view but
also as important mediators in the progression through the life cycle of the
pathogen. Therapeutics possibilities of the extracellular vesicles were also
highlighted during the meeting, where photoactive vesicles were introduced for
cancer therapy. Apart of the nomenclature issue, many discussions that took
place during the coffee-breaks were about the lack of reference products. How
the ISEV community take care of this problem will be crucial for the success to
translate extracellular vesicles research to the clinics. The development of
standard references, as well as accurate, high-resolution characterization
techniques will allow comparing and reproducing results at different
laboratories that at this moment is one of the main problems limiting the
progress of the field. In conclusion, the significant increase in cross-talk
between and among different disciplines showed the high potential of the
extracellular vesicles field for clinical applications. The industrial market has
also noted this and many companies (i.e. Apogee Flow Systems, Nanosight,
Izon, Life technologies, Exosome diagnostics, JSR Life Science, Toray, Hitachi
Chemical, Excytex and Caris Life Sciences) has specialized in this field.