Abstract
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are globular, membrane bound nanovesicles (30-100 nm range) that are shed both during normal cellular functioning and under pathological conditions by most cell types. In recent years, there has been significant interest in the study of these vesicles as conduits for the delivery of information between cells from both analogous and disparate tissues. Their ability to carry specialised cargo including signalling mediators, proteins, messenger RNA and miRNAs characterises these vesicles as primary facilitators of cell-to-cell communication and regulation. EVs have also been demonstrated to play important roles in the field of cancer biology and metastasis. However, significant knowledge gaps exist in the role these vesicles play in the context of HIV infection and drug abuse. To foster discussion in this area a satellite symposium on "HIV, NeuroAIDS, Drug Abuse & EVs", was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) in Bethesda, in April 2015. Experts in HIV and drug abuse fields were invited to share their findings on the role of EVs in HIV-1 infection and drug addiction. Additional discussion included current areas of research in EV biology in HIV infection and drug abuse.