Dear Colleagues,

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly identified as important players in the progression of disease by enhancing the underlying mechanisms of infection. Similarly, EVs may serve as transporters of biological “messages” allowing for the evasion of the immune system and targeting of specific cells. These observations suggest the existence of a highly orchestrated set of events in the donor cell, which may be deregulated by cancer, viruses, parasites, or bacteria, resulting in the generation and release of EVs with specific sets of associated cargo. There is extensive evidence of cargo, such as RNA and proteins, associated to EVs from diverse disease settings (e.g., cancer, neurodegeneration, autoimmune disorders) and infectious settings (e.g., viral, bacterial, and parasitic), and also about the heterogeneity of EVs based on size or cargo. In addition, the biogenesis of EVs is still not fully understood, in particular as it pertains to pathways that generate EVs with particular characteristics (i.e., size and cargo). Several nanoparticles that may resemble EVs are already being used in drug delivery or biomarker capture. Moreover, the use of nanoparticles as delivery systems and adjuvants for vaccines has been gaining an increasing amount of interest. Studies show that the use of these particles allows for a more direct delivery of the vaccine to the area of interest, a more specific and stronger immune response to the vaccine, and a time-release capability of the vaccine. It is possible that EVs can also serve to deliver cargo and to diagnose based on associated biomarkers that would indicate the intracellular state of cells. Additionally, EVs may be important players in cell-to-cell communication, operating at the interface between cellular factors and immune cells. The overall goal of this Special Issue is to bring together expertise from the fields of infectious diseases, cell-to-cell communication, immunology, CNS, diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and nanoparticle technology to elucidate the role of EVs in the interphase between the immune system, central nervous system (CNS), and disease progression.

This Special issue intends to bridge these diverse fields to promote future potential research in EV-based vaccines. Based on your expertise, we invite you to contribute with an original report, original observation or review, to highlight (i) mechanisms of EV biogenesis, (ii) immune pathways affected by EVs, (iii) mechanisms of EV invasion into the CNS, (iv) nanoparticle synthesis or use in diagnostics of disease, and (v) recent advances in EV-based therapeutics.

Dr. Daniel O. Pinto
Dr. Elke S. Bergmann-Leitner
Guest Editors

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• extracellular vesicles
• exosomes
• infectious disease
• cancer
• CNS
• immune system
• biogenesis