Effect of extracellular vesicles from CSF of multiple sclerosis patients and healthy controls on astrocytes in culture

INTRODUCTION Secretion of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and EV-mediated exchange of molecules among brain cells, under physiological conditions, has been described years ago. At the same time, ability of EVs to transfer proteins and nucleic acids to the surrounding cells, thus modifying their phenotypes, has been clearly demonstrated for tumor cells of different origins, including brain cancers. More recently, involvement of EVs in pathological processes affecting the Central Nervous System (CNS), and their capacity of transferring damaging cargoes have been also suggested. To explore these functions, we exposed primary cultures of astrocytes to EVs isolated from cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) …