Brain homeostasis needs continuous exchange of intercellular information among neurons, glial cells, and immune cells, namely microglial cells. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are active players of this process. All the cells of the body, including the brain, release at least two subtypes of EVs, the medium/large EVs (m/lEVs) and small EVs (sEVs). sEVs released by microglia play an important role in brain patrolling in physio-pathological processes. One of the most common and malignant forms of brain cancer is glioblastoma. Altered intercellular communications constitute a base for the onset and the development of the disease. In this work, we used microglia-derived sEVs to assay their effects in vitro on murine glioma cells and in vivo in a glioma model on C57BL6/N mice. Our findings indicated that sEVs carry messages to cancer cells that modify glioma cell metabolism, reducing lactate, nitric oxide (NO), and glutamate (Glu) release. sEVs affect Glu homeostasis, increasing the expression of Glu transporter Glt-1 on astrocytes. We demonstrated that these effects are mediated by miR-124 contained in microglia-released sEVs. The in vivo benefit of microglia-derived sEVs results in a significantly reduced tumor mass and an increased survival of glioma-bearing mice, depending on miR-124.
Keywords: Glt-1; brain tumors; extracellular vesicles; glioma; glutamate; miR-124; microglia; neurotoxicity.