Extracellular vesicles, MicroRNAs, and pulmonary hypertension

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a devastating disease that results in a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, right ventricular failure, and ultimately death of patients. Recent advances in our understanding of pathogenesis of diseases, including PH, have led to the study of extracellular vesicles (EV) as mediators of disease. Subsets of EV are microvesicles (MV), exosomes (Exo), and apoptotic bodies, and they are released from a variety of cell types and carry cargo such as proteins and microRNAs (miR). MicroRNAs contained within these EV play an important role in disease including in the pathogenesis of PH as well as other lung diseases.