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In women’s and reproductive health, there is a growing body of work suggesting that extracellular vesicles have a critical role in communications between the fetus and mother, and also between the reproductive organs and the rest of the body. This is believed to be relevant to a range of pathological conditions, including complications in pregnancy such as preeclampsia, endometriosis, and infertility.

MISEV2023: The Old and The New. MISEV2023 builds on core extracellular vesicle research methodologies, including extracellular vesicle separation and concentration (A). MISEV2023 also introduces the diverse range of complementary approaches offered by in vivo models to study extracellular vesicles (B).

The importance of Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles are released by all cells and carry complex cargoes, which can reflect pathology in the cell of origin and change the fate of target cells.  They therefore have strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and this has led to significant academic and industrial interest, as evidenced by the steady growth in the number of extracellular vesicle-focused publications and research spending in this area.  Hurdles, however, remain to realising this potential.  The International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEVhttps://www.isev.org/ has addressed these challenges through a major revision of its key position paper on the topic, MISEV2023.

Key Authors and Contributors

Prof Deborah Goberdhan is one of the lead and corresponding authors of, ‘Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles (MISEV2023):  From Basis to Advanced Approaches’ doi/10.1002/jev2.12404, published in February 2024.  MISEV2023 is an extracellular vesicle field consensus document:  the culmination of a three-year effort, involving assimilation of multiple rounds of feedback from over one thousand extracellular vesicle researchers from around the world.  

MISEV2023 is accompanied by two editorials, one  from the five lead authors, Dr Joshua Welsh (National Institutes of Health, USA), Prof Deborah Goberdhan (University of Oxford, UK), Prof Lorraine O’Driscoll (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland), Dr Clotilde Théry (Institut Curie, France) and Prof Ken Witwer (Johns Hopkins University, USA) doi/10.1002/jev2.12416; plus a second from Prof Jan Lötvall (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) doi/10.1002/jev2.12415, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles.

 

MISEV2023: A Game-Changing Position Paper

This latest ISEV position paper provides an updated snapshot of available approaches for production, separation and characterisation of extracellular vesicles from different sources, including cell culture, bodily fluids and solid tissue, with discussion of their advantages and limitations, and recommendations for standardisation in the field.  In addition to basic approaches, MISEV2023 has been expanded to also cover advanced techniques and approaches that are currently providing new insights.  Prof Goberdhan has had a significant role in developing the section discussing approaches for analysing extracellular vesicles in physiological contexts in a range of in vivo contexts, which are essential to advancing our understanding of the physiological and pathological roles of extracellular vesicles in reproduction.

Encouraging Collaboration and Engagement

Prof Goberdhan commented, ‘A key goal of MISEV2023 is to stimulate discussion of the assumptions within the extracellular vesicle research domain, and exploration of creative approaches to overcome the challenges.  MISEV2023 also seeks to encourage the extracellular vesicle field to achieve its clinical potential by enhancing deeper engagement between non-clinical, clinical researchers and industrial partners.’ 

It is hoped that all extracellular vesicle researchers will be motivated to engage with MISEV2023 and to consider how the varied inputs from the many approaches discussed might inform new advances in the future. 

Please connect

If anyone would like to discuss their ideas about extracellular vesicle research or thoughts arising from MISEV2023, Prof Goberdhan would be delighted to hear from you.

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