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Urinary Extracellular Vesicles Magic Particles for Biomarker Discovery

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Translational Urinomics

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((PMISB,volume 1306))

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are small membrane-coated structures secreted by all cells of the body and can be detected in all bodily fluids, including urine. EV contents (e.g. proteins and distinct RNA classes) reflect the physiological state of their cells of origin, offering a new source of biomarkers. Accordingly, urinary Extracellular Vesicles (uEVs) are emerging as a source for early biomarkers of kidney damage and beyond, holding the potential to replace the conventional invasive techniques including kidney biopsy. However, the lack of standardization and sample collection and isolation methods, and the influence of factors such as inter- and intra-individual variability create difficulties in interpreting current results. Here we review recent results and reported uses of especially urinary EVs and also pinpoint approaches to be considered when designing experiments.

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Acknowledgements

Research lines reported here are based on fruitful collaborative efforts and are gratefully acknowledged as follows:

  • Prof Richard Coward’s team (Bristol University, UK, in-vitro models);

  • Prof Leif Groop’s team (University of Helsinki, Finland, Clinical samples);

  • Dr. Carol Forsblom (The Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy Study, Finland, Clinical Samples;);

  • Prof Riitta Lassila (University of Helsinki, Finland, in vivo experimental model);

  • And Dr. Denis Delic, Dr. German Leparc, Marcel Rosler (Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, short and long RNA sequencing)

This study was supported by grants from the Paulo Foundation of Finland and NovoNordisk Foundation.

TBH was supported by the DFG (CRC1192, HU 1016/8-2, HU 1016/11-1, HU 1016/12-1), by the BMBF (STOP-FSGS-01GM1518C), and by the European Research Council-ERC (grant 616891).

This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement no. 115974 (BEAt-DKD; T.B.H., H.H.). This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA and by the H2020-IMI2 consortium BEAt-DKD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Karina Barreiro & Harry Holthofer

  2. Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Tobias B. Huber & Harry Holthofer

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  1. Karina Barreiro
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  2. Tobias B. Huber
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  3. Harry Holthofer
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Correspondence to Harry Holthofer .

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  1. LAQV-REQUIMTE - Department of Chemistry NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, Caparica, Portugal

    Hugo Miguel Baptista Carreira dos Santos

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Barreiro, K., Huber, T.B., Holthofer, H. (2021). Urinary Extracellular Vesicles Magic Particles for Biomarker Discovery. In: Baptista Carreira dos Santos, H.M. (eds) Translational Urinomics. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1306. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63908-2_3

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