Study on the exosomes as a biomarker to estimate in vivo function of human blood-brain barrier

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670072
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Medical pharmacy
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Chiba Kan 千葉大学, 薬学研究科(研究院), 教授 (40159033)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): FURIHATA Tomomi 千葉大学, 大学院薬学研究院, 助教 (80401008)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: バイオマーカー / エキソソーム / 血液脳関門

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is composed of brain microvascular enodothelial cells, astrocytes, and pericytes, and plays important roles in restricting penetration of various drugs into the brain. Therefore, it is important to develop a biomarker that allows us to estimate in vivo BBB functions. In this study, we aimed to clarify whether exosomes (Ex) derived from human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC) contains similar mRNA cargo to that of the parental cells. We developed a normal BBB model, as well as an impaired BBB model, where VE-cadherin mRNA level was significantly decreased. The Ex derived from each model were collected and their mRNA patterns were examined. The results show that the VE-cadherin mRNA expression level in the Ex derived from the impaired BBB model cells was clearly lower than that from the normal BBB model cells. Thus, our results suggest that the Ex derived from HBMEC may have a potential to be a biomarker for estimating in vivo BBB functions.

Free Research Field

薬学