Theranostics2018,Vol.8,Issue19http://www.thno.org5419TThheerraannoossttiiccss2018;8(19):5419-5433.doi:10.7150/thno.27876ResearchPaperExosomalmicroRNA-21derivedfrombronchialepithelialcellsisinvolvedinaberrantepithelium-fibroblastcross-talkinCOPDinducedbycigarettesmokingHuiXu1,2*,MinLing3*,JunchaoXue1,2*,XiangyuDai1,2*,QianSun1,2,ChaoChen1,2,YiLiu1,2,LiangZhou4,JianpingLiu4,FeiLuo5,QianBian3,andQizhanLiu1,21.InstituteofToxicology,SchoolofPublicHealth,NanjingMedicalUniversity,Nanjing211166,Jiangsu,People'sRepublicofChina.2.TheKeyLaboratoryofModernToxicology,MinistryofEducation,SchoolofPublicHealth,NanjingMedicalUniversity,Nanjing211166,Jiangsu,People'sRepublicofChina.3.JiangsuProvincialCenterforDiseaseControlandPrevention,Nanjing210009,Jiangsu,People'sRepublicofChina.4.LiyangCenterforDiseaseControlandPrevention,Liyang213300,Jiangsu,People'sRepublicofChina.5.FacultyofPublicHealth,SchoolofMedicine,ShanghaiJiaotongUniversity,Shanghai200025,People'sRepublicofChina.*Thesesauthorscontributedequallytothiswork.Correspondingauthor:QizhanLiu,InstituteofToxicology,SchoolofPublicHealth,NanjingMedicalUniversity,Nanjing211166,Jiangsu,People’sRepublicofChina.Telephone:+86-25-8686-8424,Fax:+86-25-8686-8499,E-mail:drqzliu@hotmail.com©IvyspringInternationalPublisher.ThisisanopenaccessarticledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttribution(CCBY-NC)license(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).Seehttp://ivyspring.com/termsforfulltermsandconditions.Received:2018.06.14;Accepted:2018.10.04;Published:2018.10.29AbstractRationale:Aberrantbronchialepithelium-fibroblastcommunicationisessentialfortheairwayremodelingthatcontributestochronicobstructivepulmonarydisease(COPD).Exosomeshaveemergedasnovelmediatorsofintercellularcommunication,buttheirroleincigarettesmoke(CS)-inducedCOPDisunknown.Here,weinvestigatedtheroleofexosomalmiR-21inthedysfunctionalepithelium-fibroblastcross-talkcausedbyCS.Methods:NormalorCSextract(CSE)-treatedhumanbronchialepithelial(HBE)cellswereco-cultu...