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Review
. 2019 Feb 2;8(2):118.
doi: 10.3390/cells8020118.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells-derived Exosomes: A New Possible Therapeutic Strategy for Parkinson's Disease?

Helena Vilaça-Faria  1 , António J Salgado  2 , Fábio G Teixeira  3
Affiliations
Review

Mesenchymal Stem Cells-derived Exosomes: A New Possible Therapeutic Strategy for Parkinson's Disease?

Helena Vilaça-Faria et al. Cells. .

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Clinically, it is characterized by severe motor complications caused by a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons (DAn) and dopamine loss. Current treatment is focused on mitigating the symptoms through administration of levodopa, rather than on preventing DAn damage. Therefore, the use and development of neuroprotective/disease-modifying strategies is an absolute need, which can lead to promising gains on PD translational research. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)⁻derived exosomes have been proposed as a promising therapeutic tool, since it has been demonstrated that they can act as biological nanoparticles with beneficial effects in different pathological conditions, including PD. Thus, considering their potential protective action in lesioned sites, MSCs-derived exosomes might also be active modulators of the neuroregeneration processes, opening a door for their future use as therapeutical strategies in human clinical trials. Therefore, in this review, we analyze the current understanding of MSCs-derived exosomes as a new possible therapeutic strategy for PD, by providing an overview about the potential role of miRNAs in the cellular and molecular basis of PD.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; exosomes; mesenchymal stem cells; microRNAs; secretome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the role of miRNAs in the molecular and cellular (e.g. nuclear, intracellular, and extracellular) mechanisms of PD brain.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of the active role of exosomes on PD. How exosomes recognize and internalize other cells remains under discussion. Free-floating, adhesion, and antigen recognition have been described as mechanisms of cellular recognition, while soluble and juxtacrine signaling, fusion, phagocytosis, micropinocytosis, and receptor- and raft-mediated endocytosis have been described as mechanisms of exosomal internalization, as described by [75].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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