Biogenesis and delivery of EGFR-enriched extracellular vesicles

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are vesicles released by cells. They play important roles in tissue development, neuron communication, and cancer progression by delivering proteins, mRNA, and miRNA to recipient cells. The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is one of the proteins delivered by EVs. Although the role of EGFR in cancer is well studied, the biogenesis and delivery mechanism of EGFR-enriched EVs is largely unclear. In this study, I isolated the EGFR-enriched EVs through differential centrifugation combined with floatation. EGFR is shown to be present in a subpopulation of EVs that are different from EVs enriched with another protein, CD9. The depletion of AP-1 significantly reduces the biogenesis of EGFR-enriched EVs. Moreover, depletion of CHC in recipient cells inhibits the delivery of EGFR-enriched EVs. Thus, we found important protein factors that regulate biogenesis and delivery of EGFR-enriched EVs, providing novel insights into this cellular process.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology