Figure 2.

The four different modes of communication by exosomes and microvesicles. Extracellular vesicles serve as vehicles for cell-to-cell communication through horizontal transfer of bioactive molecules (proteins, lipids and nucleic acids). Extracellular vesicles (microvesicles (MVs) or exosomes (Exos)) produced from a secreting cell may be internalized by fusion (1), endocytosis (2), phagocytosis (3) or may interact with the membrane proteins of the target cell (4). Squares, triangles and circles represent membrane-associated proteins.