×

mRNA-Encapsulating Extracellular Vesicles for Collagen

Journal Club February 2023

Share







The Journal Club is a monthly livestream hosted by Dr. Oliver Medvedik which covers the latest aging research papers.The Journal Club is a monthly livestream hosted by Dr. Oliver Medvedik which covers the latest aging research papers.

The Journal Club, hosted by Dr. Oliver Medvedik, returns to the Lifespan.io Facebook page at 12:00 on Tuesday, February 28th. This month, we are covering a recent paper that showed a method of restoring youthful collagen production in aged skin [1]. If you would like some background, check out our article ‘New Way to Help Aging Cells Produce Collagen‘, which covers this paper.

Abstract

The success of messenger RNA therapeutics largely depends on the availability of delivery systems that enable the safe, effective and stable translation of genetic material into functional proteins. Here we show that extracellular vesicles (EVs) produced via cellular nanoporation from human dermal fibroblasts, and encapsulating mRNA encoding for extracellular-matrix α1 type-I collagen (COL1A1) induced the formation of collagen-protein grafts and reduced wrinkle formation in the collagen-depleted dermal tissue of mice with photoaged skin. We also show that the intradermal delivery of the mRNA-loaded EVs via a microneedle array led to the prolonged and more uniform synthesis and replacement of collagen in the dermis of the animals. The intradermal delivery of EV-based COL1A1 mRNA may make for an effective protein-replacement therapy for the treatment of photoaged skin.

Literature

[1] You, Y., Tian, Y., Yang, Z., Shi, J., Kwak, K. J., Tong, Y., … & Lee, A. S. (2023). Intradermally delivered mRNA-encapsulating extracellular vesicles for collagen-replacement therapy. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1-14.

About the author

Steve Hill

Steve serves on the LEAF Board of Directors and is the Editor in Chief, coordinating the daily news articles and social media content of the organization. He is an active journalist in the aging research and biotechnology field and has to date written over 600 articles on the topic, interviewed over 100 of the leading researchers in the field, hosted livestream events focused on aging, as well as attending various medical industry conferences. His work has been featured in H+ magazine, Psychology Today, Singularity Weblog, Standpoint Magazine, Swiss Monthly, Keep me Prime, and New Economy Magazine. Steve is one of three recipients of the 2020 H+ Innovator Award and shares this honour with Mirko Ranieri – Google AR and Dinorah Delfin – Immortalists Magazine. The H+ Innovator Award looks into our community and acknowledges ideas and projects that encourage social change, achieve scientific accomplishments, technological advances, philosophical and intellectual visions, author unique narratives, build fascinating artistic ventures, and develop products that bridge gaps and help us to achieve transhumanist goals. Steve has a background in project management and administration which has helped him to build a united team for effective fundraising and content creation, while his additional knowledge of biology and statistical data analysis allows him to carefully assess and coordinate the scientific groups involved in the project.