Open AccessExosomes and autophagy: rekindling the vesicular waste hypothesis
Author(s) -
Gudbergsson Johann Mar,
Johnsen Kasper Bendix
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of cell communication and signaling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1873-961X
pISSN - 1873-9601
DOI - 10.1007/s12079-019-00524-8
Subject(s) - microvesicles , autophagy , exosome , biogenesis , endosome , microbiology and biotechnology , vesicle , secretion , biology , chemistry , microrna , biochemistry , gene , apoptosis , membrane , intracellular
Exosomes were first described as waste carriers implicated in reticulocyte maturation but has during the past decade been associated with many other cellular functions. The biogenesis of exosomes has been extensively studied and several protein machineries have been identified to dictate their production and release. The newly discovered branches of the autophagy system implicate secretion of waste in endosomal‐derived vesicles as is thought for exosome release. Many of the proteins that have been identified as responsible for the formation and release of these vesicles are the same as those identified in exosome biogenesis. In this Perspective, we discuss the possibility of exosomes being a part of the autophagy machinery and the consequences this could have on interpretation of exosome functions.