Extracellular vesicles As potential Trojan horses to cross the Blood-Brain Barrier? – EATs-theBBB

The blood-brain barrier (BBB), which drastically restricts the exchanges between the brain parenchyma and the bloodstream, is at the center of dense traffic of different subpopulations of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Plasma-derived VEs are able to enter into the brain across the BBB, but the knowledge about the routes taken by the EVs is very poor. Moreover, although involved in the regulation of the BBB main features, neither the exit of brain-derived EVs into the bloodstream nor the corresponding mechanisms have been reported up to now. The EATs-theBBB project aims to identify and to validate the physiological transport mechanisms of the different subpopulations of EVs across the BBB (transcytosis events for EVs and their fate). The main goal of this project is to highlight some promising routes to improve the brain drug delivery using EVs as Trojan horses to cross the BBB.