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Rab27a and Rab27b control different steps of the exosome secretion pathway

Abstract

Exosomes are secreted membrane vesicles that share structural and biochemical characteristics with intraluminal vesicles of multivesicular endosomes (MVEs). Exosomes could be involved in intercellular communication and in the pathogenesis of infectious and degenerative diseases. The molecular mechanisms of exosome biogenesis and secretion are, however, poorly understood. Using an RNA interference (RNAi) screen, we identified five Rab GTPases that promote exosome secretion in HeLa cells. Among these, Rab27a and Rab27b were found to function in MVE docking at the plasma membrane. The size of MVEs was strongly increased by Rab27a silencing, whereas MVEs were redistributed towards the perinuclear region upon Rab27b silencing. Thus, the two Rab27 isoforms have different roles in the exosomal pathway. In addition, silencing two known Rab27 effectors, Slp4 (also known as SYTL4, synaptotagmin-like 4) and Slac2b (also known as EXPH5, exophilin 5), inhibited exosome secretion and phenocopied silencing of Rab27a and Rab27b, respectively. Our results therefore strengthen the link between MVEs and exosomes, and introduce ways of manipulating exosome secretion in vivo.

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Figure 1: Semi-quantitative detection of exosomes in cell culture supernatants.
Figure 2: Modulation of exosome and OVA secretion by members of the Rab family.
Figure 3: Large-scale purification and characterization of exosomes secreted by Rab27a and Rab27b-knockdown cells.
Figure 4: Effect of Rab27a and Rab27b knockdown on the intracellular distribution of CD63-positive compartments.
Figure 5: Differential intracellular distribution of Rab27a and Rab27b.
Figure 6: Effect of Rab27a and Rab27b knockdown on the mobility of CD63-positive compartments in the subplasmalemmal region analysed by TIRF microscopy.
Figure 7: Figure 7 Effect of Rab27 effector proteins on exosome secretion.
Figure 8: Interaction between Slp4 and Rab27a.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by post-doctoral salaries from Institut National du Cancer and Institut Curie to M.O., grants from Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer and Fondation de France to C.T., and from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche to F.D. (ANR-06-BLAN-0211-02). L.F.M. is a Young Investigator from the Human Frontier Science Program and receives support from Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/SAU-MII/69280/2006 and PTDC/SAU-MII/78333/2006). We thank PICT IbiSA Imaging Facility at Curie Institute, V. Racine and J.-B. Sibarita for providing a copy of their multidimensional image analysis program, I. Hurbain for help in electron microscopy quantification, P. Simões and M. H. Raquel for some of the lentiviral preparations, T. Tolmachova for bones of Rab27-knockout mice, J. Mordoh for providing an anti-CD63 FC-5.01 antibody and R. Allan for critical reading of the manuscript.

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M.O. conceived, designed, performed and analysed data from all experiments, and wrote the paper. N.B.C. performed initial lentivirus screens. S.K. performed immunoblotting, RNA analyses and prepared cell cultures. I.F. performed and analysed data from TIRF microscopy experiments. G.R. performed and analysed data from electron microscopy experiments and edited the manuscript. A.S. analysed data and edited the manuscript. C.F.M. designed the lentivirus library and prepared lentiviruses. K.S. analysed data from and quantified immunofluorescence experiments. A.N.H performed immunoprecipitation experiments. P.B., M.F., R.P.F. and N.H. contributed essential reagents. B.G. conceived the Rab effector-related experiments. M.C.S. contributed essential reagents, analysed data and conceived the Rab effector-related experiments. C.D. and F.D. analysed data from TIRF microscopy experiments and wrote the paper. S.A. conceived the project and edited the manuscript. L.F.M. conceived the screen, designed and supervised the lentivirus library production and use, analysed data and edited the manuscript. C.T. conceived and supervised the project, analysed data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luis F. Moita or Clotilde Thery.

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Ostrowski, M., Carmo, N., Krumeich, S. et al. Rab27a and Rab27b control different steps of the exosome secretion pathway. Nat Cell Biol 12, 19–30 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2000

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