IntechOpen launches New Scientific Peer-reviewed Journal Exosomics

Last week, IntechOpen launched its new, open access journal Exosomics. Under the editorship of Dr. Winston Patrick Kuo, Harvard Medical School - Boston, and Dr. Antonio Chiesi, Exosomics Siena SpA - Siena, this advanced, peer-reviewed scientific journal aims to bring together the principles, scientific research results and clinical applications in the field of exosome research. The submission date for all research papers is set for May 18th, 2012. The first 20 accepted submissions will not be charged any article processing fee.

Targeting experts and scientists such as cell and molecular biologists, medical researchers, clinicians and surgeons specializing in exosome-based approaches among others, the journal will discuss numerous topics of interest. 

Exosomics is a branch of biotechnology and biomedicine that crosses multiple disciplines including the application of molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, physiology, immunology and biophysics to analytics to help elucidate the structure, biogenesis, function and trafficking of exosomes (nano-scaled lipid-based membrane vesicles of endocytic origin that are shed from most living cells). Discovered over 30 years ago, exosomes were long considered an alternative secretion pathway for unwanted molecules meant to be discarded from the parent cells. Over the last decade, important roles of exosomes have emerged as mediators of intracellular communication and immune regulation, both in physiological and pathological conditions. Today, these vesicles are often recognized for their specific molecular composition dependent on parent cell/tissue type and condition, and their involvement in the transferring of proteins, lipids and genetic material affecting the function of recipient (target) cell. The recent increased interest in exosomes has been related to the discovery of their role in intercellular communication vectors in parent cell microenvironment or at a distance, by trafficking through the lymphatic and circulatory system, and can thus be found in a variety of human biofluids such as blood and urine. These features make exosome research an appealing field for the discovery of exosome-associated biomarkers and development of targeted diagnostic applications. Recent papers have shown the diagnostic value of exosomes purified from blood and urine in pathological conditions such as cancer. Moreover, the use of exosomes as therapeutic tools in cancer immunotherapy, regenerative medicine and therapeutic vaccinal approaches as well as in targeted drug delivery has been subject of many ongoing pioneering studies.

Exosomics is therefore an exciting and rapidly expanding field of clinical and translational science, with a pressing demand for further insights in the roles of exosomes and their functions in physiologic and pathologic conditions. Further development is needed in the area of standardizing methodological approaches for the exchange and validation of independently obtained data from an increasing number of ongoing exosome research world-wide. Overall, Exosomics comprises a multidisciplinary scientific arena with unprecedented potential of opening new research paths and yielding novel biotechnological and medical applications.