Biological Functions of Exosomes in the Liver

The liver is a complicated environment comprised of several different cell types such as hepatocytes, parenchymal cells, Kupffer cells, natural killer cells, B cells, T cells, and stellate cells, which are involved in various functions necessary for maintaining of the health. To maintain the proper function of the liver, coordination between all cell types population is necessary. One of the potent mechanisms involved in this harmonic orchestra is the exosome, 30-100 nm extracellular nanovesicles with the endosomal origin. Exosome contains various proteins, lipids, and genetic materials including mRNAs and microRNAs (miRNAs), which is closely associated with the content of cell released from. After secretion, the exosome can attach to the target cell, fuse with the membrane, deplete the cargos and finally, it can exchange the biological information with recipient cells that leads to promoting or inhibiting diverse signals.