RESUMEN
Exocytosis is a dynamic physiological process that enables the release of biomolecules to the surrounding environment via the fusion of membrane compartments to the plasma membrane. Understanding its mechanisms is crucial, as defects can compromise essential biological functions. The development of pH-sensitive optical reporters alongside fluorescence microscopy enables the assessment of individual vesicle exocytosis events at the cellular level. Manual annotation represents, however, a time-consuming task, prone to selection biases and human operational errors. Here, we introduce ExoJ, an automated plugin based on ImageJ2/Fiji. ExoJ identifies user-defined genuine populations of exocytosis events, recording quantitative features including intensity, apparent size and duration. We designed ExoJ to be fully user-configurable, making it suitable to study distinct forms of vesicle exocytosis regardless of the imaging quality. Our plugin demonstrates its capabilities by showcasing distinct exocytic dynamics among tetraspanins and vesicular SNAREs protein reporters. Assessment of performance on synthetic data showed ExoJ is a robust tool, capable to correctly identify exocytosis events independently of signal-to-noise ratio conditions. We propose ExoJ as a standard solution for future comparative and quantitative studies of exocytosis.
RESUMEN
Exosomes are small endosome-derived extracellular vesicles implicated in cell-cell communication and are secreted by living cells when multivesicular bodies (MVBs) fuse with the plasma membrane (PM). Current techniques to study exosome physiology are based on isolation procedures after secretion, precluding direct and dynamic insight into the mechanics of exosome biogenesis and the regulation of their release. In this study, we propose real-time visualization of MVB-PM fusion to overcome these limitations. We designed tetraspanin-based pH-sensitive optical reporters that detect MVB-PM fusion using live total internal reflection fluorescence and dynamic correlative light-electron microscopy. Quantitative analysis demonstrates that MVB-PM fusion frequency is reduced by depleting the target membrane SNAREs SNAP23 and syntaxin-4 but also can be induced in single cells by stimulation of the histamine H1 receptor (H1HR). Interestingly, activation of H1R1 in HeLa cells increases Ser110 phosphorylation of SNAP23, promoting MVB-PM fusion and the release of CD63-enriched exosomes. Using this single-cell resolution approach, we highlight the modulatory dynamics of MVB exocytosis that will help to increase our understanding of exosome physiology and identify druggable targets in exosome-associated pathologies.
Asunto(s)
Membrana Celular/fisiología , Fusión de Membrana/fisiología , Cuerpos Multivesiculares/fisiología , Receptores Acoplados a Proteínas G/metabolismo , Comunicación Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Membrana Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Exocitosis/efectos de los fármacos , Células HCT116 , Células HeLa , Histamina/farmacología , Células Endoteliales de la Vena Umbilical Humana , Humanos , Fusión de Membrana/efectos de los fármacos , Cuerpos Multivesiculares/efectos de los fármacos , Fosforilación/efectos de los fármacos , Cloruro de Potasio/farmacología , Proteínas Qa-SNARE/genética , Proteínas Qa-SNARE/metabolismo , Proteínas Qb-SNARE/genética , Proteínas Qb-SNARE/metabolismo , Proteínas Qc-SNARE/genética , Proteínas Qc-SNARE/metabolismo , Receptores Acoplados a Proteínas G/efectos de los fármacos , Receptores Histamínicos H1/efectos de los fármacos , Análisis de la Célula Individual , Tetraspaninas/genética , Tetraspaninas/metabolismoRESUMEN
Most cancer cells release heterogeneous populations of extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. In vitro experiments showed that EV uptake can lead to transfer of functional mRNA and altered cellular behavior. However, similar in vivo experiments remain challenging because cells that take up EVs cannot be discriminated from non-EV-receiving cells. Here, we used the Cre-LoxP system to directly identify tumor cells that take up EVs in vivo. We show that EVs released by malignant tumor cells are taken up by less malignant tumor cells located within the same and within distant tumors and that these EVs carry mRNAs involved in migration and metastasis. By intravital imaging, we show that the less malignant tumor cells that take up EVs display enhanced migratory behavior and metastatic capacity. We postulate that tumor cells locally and systemically share molecules carried by EVs in vivo and that this affects cellular behavior.