Uterine luminal-derived extracellular vesicles: potential nanomaterials to improve embryo implantation
Linjun Hong, Xupeng Zang, Qun Hu, Yanjuan He, Zhiqian Xu, Yanshe Xie, Ting Gu, Huaqiang Yang, Jie Yang, Junsong Shi, Enqin Zheng, Sixiu Huang, Zheng Xu, Dewu Liu, Gengyuan Cai, Zicong Li, Zhenfang Wu
Abstract
Most pregnancy losses worldwide are caused by implantation failure for which there is a lack of effective therapeutics. Extracellular vesicles are considered potential endogenous nanomedicines because of their unique biological functions. However, the limited supply of ULF-EVs prevents their development and application in infertility diseases such as implantation failure. In this study, pigs were used as a human biomedical model, and ULF-EVs were isolated from the uterine luminal. We comprehensively characterized the proteins enriched in ULF-EVs and revealed their biological functions in promoting embryo implantation. By exogenously supplying ULF-EVs, we demonstrated that ULF-EVs improve embryo implantation, suggesting that ULF-EVs are a potential nanomaterial to treat implantation failure. Furthermore, we identified that MEP1B is important in improving embryo implantation by promoting trophoblast cell proliferation and migration. These results indicated that ULF-EVs can be a potential nanomaterial to improve embryo implantation.