Role of Extracellular Vesicles as Potential Diagnostic and/or Therapeutic Biomarkers in Chronic Cardiovascular Diseases

Figures

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  FIGURE 1. Pathological vascular remodeling. Arterial remodeling in peripheral arteries and thoracic and abdominal aortas present some phenotypic particularities compared with vascular lesions in other vascular beds. Lower limb lesions are most frequently stable with low macrophage content, and a prevalence of vascular SMCs, resulting in plaques rich in collagen and elastic fibers, mostly calcified, with a non-significant lipid core. AAAs are characterized by the presence of an Intra Luminal Thrombus (ILT), rich in red blood cells (RBCs), neutrophils and platelets, and an aortic wall with low number of vascular SMCs in the remaining media, along with immune cell infiltrates, fibroblasts and neovessels in the adventitia. TAA display extensive remodeling of the ECM, vascular SMCs dysfunction and calcification, but ILT is not present. Figure created using Servier Medical Art images (https://smart.servier.com).

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  FIGURE 2. Extracellular vesicles. EVs contain lipids, protein and nucleic acids from the cell or organ of origin and are released to the bloodstream by all cellular components of the vasculature and blood. By transferring their content to neighboring or distant cells or by direct interaction with the ECMs components, EVs are able to participate in all the steps of vessel remodeling. Figure created using Servier Medical Art images (https://smart.servier.com).

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  FIGURE 3. Implication of extracellular vesicles in vascular calcification. Inflammatory environment induces osteogenic differentiation of SMC to osteoblast-like SMCs that release TNAP-loaded EV that aggregate into microcalcifications. In addition, high serum phosphate induces tissue calcification through EV with low TNAP. Figure created using Servier Medical Art images (https://smart.servier.com).