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Two Rabs for exosome release

Nature Cell Biology volume 12, pages 3–4 (2010)Cite this article

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Exosomes are endosome-derived membrane vesicles that are key for intercellular communication in the immune system and elsewhere. Rab27A and Rab27B GTPases and two of their cognate effector proteins seem to be needed to drive the physiologically important exosome-release process in certain cell types.

Exosomes are small membrane vesicles, 40–100 nm in diameter, that correspond to the internal vesicles present in multivesicular endosomes (MVEs)1,2. They are released from many different cell types upon fusion of MVEs with the cell surface, and have been shown to be important modulators of the immune system. Exosomes have also been shown to be able to transfer oncogenic signalling receptors and β-amyloid peptides from one cell to another, as well as a specific subset of mRNAs and microRNAs1,2. Consistent with their origin, they contain endosome-associated proteins, including Rab GTPases, annexins, flotillin, Alix and TSG101, integrins and tetraspanins (CD63, CD9, CD81 and CD82), and they are enriched in raft-lipids, such as cholesterol, ceramide and sphingolipids1,2. An understanding of exosome release and its regulation would be greatly enhanced by identification of the proteins required. On page 19 of this issue, Ostrowski et al. present a small scale shRNA screen to identify possible Rab GTPases important for exosome release. The screen was carried out in HeLa cells expressing ovalbumin and all genes of the MHC class II family to provide markers of the secretory and antigen-presenting pathways3.

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Figure 1: A role for Rab27A and Rab27B and their effectors in exosome secretion.

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  1. Suzanne Pfeffer is at the Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive B400, Stanford, 94305-5307, CA, USA

    Suzanne R. Pfeffer

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Pfeffer, S. Two Rabs for exosome release. Nat Cell Biol 12, 3–4 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb0110-3

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