Extracellular vesicles regulate stress granule dynamics and distribute to the brain following intranasal delivery

Adam Walters – Lecturer, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London; Meiling Yu – Post-doc, The University of Hong Kong; Revadee Liam-Or – Post-doc, The University of Hong Kong; Khuloud Al-Jamal – Professor, King's College London and The University of Hong Kong

Introduction:

Stress granules (SGs) are membraneless ribonucleoprotein compartments that form in response to cellular stress to regulate mRNA translation and proteostasis (1). Dysregulated SG dynamics are linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and FTD (frontotemporal dementia), where SGs may seed aggregation of proteins like TDP-43 (2,3). Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are endogenous nanocarriers that mediate intercellular communication. Here, we examine whether EVs modulate SG assembly in vitro and distribute to the brain after intranasal delivery.