Extracellular vesicle-mediated interorgan communication in metabolic diseases

HighlightsExtracellular vesicles (EVs) help maintain whole-body metabolic homeostasis, facilitating interorgan communication by transporting bioactive cargoes such as proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites.Metabolic and oncogenic factors dynamically regulate the biogenesis, secretion, and contents of EVs.EVs exert local or systemic regulation by delivering distinct cargo patterns under pathological circumstances, contributing to intraorgan or interorgan transportation.EVs have potential applications for early detection and treatment of metabolic disorders and diseases: for example, as biomarkers in disease diagnostics, and through engineering EVs for therapeutic applications.AbstractThe body partially maintains metabolic homeostasis through interorgan communication between metabolic organs under physiological conditions. This crosstalk is known to be mediated by hormones or metabolites, and has recently been expanding to include extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs participate in interorgan communication under physiological and pathological conditions by encapsulating various bioactive cargoes, including proteins, metabolites, and nucleic acids. In this review we summarize the latest findings about the metabolic regulation of EV biogenesis, secretion, and components, and highlight the biological role of EV cargoes in interorgan communication in cancer, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. We also discuss the potential application of EVs as diagnostic markers, and corresponding therapeutic strategies by EV engineering for both early detection and treatment of metabolic disorders.