Exosome-mediated transfer of cardio-protective miRNAs between cardiomyocytes prevents apoptosis induced by hypoxia

Conclusions:In brief, this study illustrated a potential mechanism that, under hypoxic stress, hypoxia pre-perceived cardiomyocytes can spontaneously secrete the hypoxamiRs enriched exosomes, loaded a large amount of cardio-protective miRNA, which mediate crosstalk among cardiomyocytes and prevent apoptosis to heighten the hypoxia adaptability of cardiomyocytes. In more detail, we first discovered that miR-152-3p and let-7i-5p, enriched in hypoxia-exosomes derived by cardiomyocytes, played an anti-apoptosis role via mitochondrial pathway(intrinsic pathway) and death receptor pathway (extrinsic pathway), respectively.