Background
Background
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Progressive degenerative diseases such as atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and kidney failure are an ever increasing burden to Western health care and society. Current therapies are aimed at reduction of disease progression rate, whereas the rapidly emerging field of regenerative medicine is developing novel approaches with the ultimate goal to completely inverse these processes. Stem cell therapies, capable to rejuvenate affected tissues by forming new functional tissues. It has however become increasingly clear that the regenerative action of stem cells is mainly conducted through paracrine mechanisms. This more supporting role, employed by secretion products of stem and progenitor cells is responsible for many of the observed effects of stem cell therapies. These paracrine factors secreted by stem- and progenitor cells, like growth factors, cytokines, and extracellular vesicles (EV), are of major interest to discover new therapeutics that stimulate local tissue regeneration for the use in regenerative medicine in general.
This understanding opens up new avenues for regenerative medicine research, as not only relatively simple-structured tissues, but also complex organs are now subject for treatment. Importantly, injury to the complex kidney is of special interest, as recent preclinical work from our consortium has indicated this organ to be protected against and recover from acute kidney injury by mesenchymal stem cell-derived EV. Within the past decade, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as important mediators of intercellular communication, being involved in the transmission of biological signals between cells to regulate a diverse range of biological processes.