1. Fluorogenic RNA-based biomaterials for imaging and tracking the cargo of extracellular vesicles.
- Author
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Bonacquisti EE, Ferguson SW, Wadsworth GM, Jasiewicz NE, Wang J, Chaudhari AP, Kussatz CC, Nogueira AT, Keeley DP, Itano MS, Bolton ML, Hahn KM, Banerjee PR, and Nguyen J
- Subjects
- Humans, Aptamers, Nucleotide, Animals, RNA genetics, Extracellular Vesicles metabolism, Fluorescent Dyes chemistry, Biocompatible Materials chemistry, Biocompatible Materials metabolism
- Abstract
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), or exosomes, play important roles in physiological and pathological cellular communication and have gained substantial traction as biological drug carriers. EVs contain both short and long non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression and epigenetic processes. To fully capitalize on the potential of EVs as drug carriers, it is important to study and understand the intricacies of EV function and EV RNA-based communication. Here we developed a genetically encodable RNA-based biomaterial, termed EXO-Probe, for tracking EV RNAs. The EXO-Probe comprises an EV-loading RNA sequence (EXO-Code), fused to a fluorogenic RNA Mango aptamer for RNA imaging. This fusion construct allowed the visualization and tracking of EV RNA and colocalization with markers of multivesicular bodies; imaging RNA within EVs, and non-destructive quantification of EVs. Overall, the new RNA-based biomaterial provides a useful and versatile means to interrogate the role of EVs in cellular communication via RNA trafficking to EVs and to study cellular sorting decisions. The system will also help lay the foundation to further improve the therapeutic efficacy of EVs as drug carriers., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest JN, SF, and EB are inventors on the patent applications of the EXO-Code technology evaluated in this paper that have been licensed to Exopharm and have received royalties. These relationships have been disclosed to and are under management by UNC-Chapel Hill., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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