Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing interest in extracellular vesicles (EVs) for ocular applications as therapeutics, biomarkers, and drug delivery vehicles. EVs secreted from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown to provide therapeutic benefits in ocular conditions. However, very little is known about the properties of bioreactor cultured-3D human retinal organoids secreted EVs. This study provides a comprehensive morphological, nanomechanical, molecular, and proteomic characterization of retinal organoid EVs and compares it with human umbilical cord (hUC) MSCs.
Methods
The morphology and nanomechanical properties of retinal organoid EVs were assessed using Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM). Gene expression analysis of exosome biogenesis of early and late retinal organoids were compared using qPCR. The protein profile of the EVs were analyzed with proteomic tools.
Results
NTA indicated the average size of EV as 100–250 nm. A high expression of exosome biogenesis genes was observed in late retinal organoids EVs. Immunoblot analysis showed highly expressed exosomal markers in late retinal organoids EVs compared to early retinal organoids EVs. Protein profiling of retinal organoid EVs displayed a higher differential expression of retinal function-related proteins and EV biogenesis proteins than hUCMSC EVs, implicating that the use of retinal organoid EVs may have a superior therapeutic effect on retinal disorders.
Conclusion
This study provides supplementary knowledge on the properties of retinal organoid EVs and suggests their potential use in the diagnostic and therapeutic treatments for ocular diseases.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated and analyzed from the current study is available with the corresponding author on reasonable request. The mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the PRIDE partner repository with the dataset identifier.
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Acknowledgements
This research is partly funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Grant/Award Number: U54 MD007582, and NSF-CREST Center for Complex Materials Design for Multidimensional Additive Processing (CoManD), Grant/Award Number:1735968. Work was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01- EY032197 and U24 EY029891 to D.A. L, R01-NS125016 to Y.L.) P30 Vision Core grant to UCSF Dept of Ophthalmology (EY002162), the Research to Prevent Blindness (unrestricted grant to UCSF Dept of Ophthalmology) and Eagles fifth District Cancer Telethon−Cancer Research Fund and Jay and Deanie Stein Career Development Award for Cancer Research at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, 2019 Benefactor Funded Champions for Hope Pancreatic Cancer to S.B.
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Arthur, P., Kandoi, S., Sun, L. et al. Biophysical, Molecular and Proteomic Profiling of Human Retinal Organoid-Derived Exosomes. Pharm Res 40, 801–816 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-022-03350-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-022-03350-7