Final Report Summary - MINDS (Microvesicle-inspired drug delivery systems)
We demonstrated that harvesting method was important for functional characteristics of EVs, the golden standard (i.e. centrifugation) was shown to compromise EV activity. Instead chromatography preserved activity. For labeling, to be able to track EVs', we were successful in labeling proteins lipids or interior of the EVs poviding a comprehensive overview of all the components. One lableing method was described in literature to be useful to determine fusion of EVs with other cells. However we determined that this assay is not useful. Also we showed that the golden standard loading method of RNA in to EVs (i.e. electroporation) was based on an artefact.
We developed three methods to equip EVs with targeting ligands, which were all successful in vitro and to a certain degree in vivo. Subsequent research will need to show if one technique outperforms the others.
Together with partners we were the first to show mRNA transfer by EVs between tissues, underlining their drug delivery utility. Finally we also studied the targeting under flow conditions and studied the mechanics of EVs.