PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Alberti, Giusi
AU  - Mazzola, Margherita
AU  - Gagliardo, Carola
AU  - Pitruzzella, Alessandro
AU  - Fucarini, Alberto
AU  - Giammanco, Marco
AU  - Tomasello, Giovanni
AU  - Carini, Francesco
TI  - Extracellular vesicles derived from gut microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer
DP  - 2021 Sep 20
TA  - Biomedical papers
PG  - 233--240
VI  - 165
IP  - 3
AID - 10.5507/bp.2021.042
IS  - 12138118
AB  - The human gut microbiome encompasses inter alia, the myriad bacterial species that create the optimal host-microorganism balance essential for normal metabolic and immune function. Various lines of evidence suggest that dysregulation of the microbiota-host interaction is linked to pathologies such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Extracellular vesicles (EVs), found in virtually all body fluids and produced by both eukaryotic cells and bacteria are involved in cell-cell communication and crosstalk mechanisms, such as the immune response, barrier function and intestinal flora. This review highlights advancements in knowledge of the functional role that EVs may have in IBD and CRC, and discusses the possible use of EVs derived from intestinal microbiota in therapeutic strategies for treating these conditions.