Introduction: Exosome nanoparticles carry a composite cargo, including microRNAs (miRs). Cultured cardiovascular cells release miR-containing exosomes. The exosomal trafficking of miRNAs from the heart is largely unexplored. Working on clinical samples from coronary-artery by-pass graft (CABG) surgery, we investigated if: 1) exosomes containing cardiac miRs and hence putatively released by cardiac cells increase in the circulation after surgery; 2) circulating exosomes and exosomal cardiac miRs correlate with cardiac troponin (cTn), the current "gold standard" surrogate biomarker of myocardial damage.
Methods and results: The concentration of exosome-sized nanoparticles was determined in serial plasma samples. Cardiac-expressed (miR-1, miR-24, miR-133a/b, miR-208a/b, miR-210), non-cardiovascular (miR-122) and quality control miRs were measured in whole plasma and in plasma exosomes. Linear regression analyses were employed to establish the extent to which the circulating individual miRs, exosomes and exosomal cardiac miR correlated with cTn-I. Cardiac-expressed miRs and the nanoparticle number increased in the plasma on completion of surgery for up to 48 hours. The exosomal concentration of cardiac miRs also increased after CABG. Cardiac miRs in the whole plasma did not correlate significantly with cTn-I. By contrast cTn-I was positively correlated with the plasma exosome level and the exosomal cardiac miRs.
Conclusions: The plasma concentrations of exosomes and their cargo of cardiac miRs increased in patients undergoing CABG and were positively correlated with hs-cTnI. These data provide evidence that CABG induces the trafficking of exosomes from the heart to the peripheral circulation. Future studies are necessary to investigate the potential of circulating exosomes as clinical biomarkers in cardiac patients.