Extracellular vesicles as a hydrolytic platform of secreted phospholipase A2

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent small vesicles secreted from cells, including exosomes (40–150 nm in diameter), which are released via the multivesicular endosomal pathway, and microvesicles and ectosomes (100–1000 nm), which are produced by plasma membrane budding. Broadly, EVs also include vesicles generated from dying cells, such as apoptotic bodies (5–10 μm), as well as exomeres (< 50 nm), which are very small, non-membranous nanoparticles. EVs play important roles in cell-to-cell signaling in various aspects of cancer, immunity, metabolism, and so on by transferring proteins, microRNAs (miRNAs), and metabolites as cargos from donor cells to recipient cells. Although lipids are one of the major components of EVs, they have long been recognized as merely the “wall” that partitions the lumen of the vesicle from the outside. However, it has recently become obvious that lipid composition of EVs influences their properties and functions, that EVs act as a carrier of a variety of lipid mediators, and that lipid mediators are produced in EV membranes by the hydrolytic action of secreted phospholipase A₂s (sPLA₂s). In this article, we will make an overview of the roles of lipids in EVs, with a particular focus on sPLA₂-driven mobilization of lipid mediators from EVs and its biological significance.