Omics Reveals Signaling-Associated Traits of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Dental Stem Cells

Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in intercellular communication and reflect the functional characteristics of their parent cells. Despite the significant therapeutic potential of these EVs, the molecular features of EVs derived from different stem cells and their relationship with tissue specificity remain underexplored. In this study, we conducted integrated proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of EVs derived from six dental stem cells (DSCs) and three systemic stem cells (SSCs) to investigate the role of EVs in tissue-specific molecular transfer. This study found that although DSCs and SSCs share 92.1% of the core proteome, the EVs derived from each stem cell type displayed distinct molecular signatures. EVs from DSCs were enriched in signaling molecules, reflecting their parent cells' roles in local tissue repair, whereas EVs from SSCs carried mitochondrial and metabolic proteins, indicating their preferential involvement in metabolic regulation. Furthermore, we uncovered that the parent cells transferred 83% of the core proteins to their EVs in a tissue-specific pattern, ensuring that dental EVs retain prominent signaling functions. Thus, understanding the relationship between EVs and their parent stem cells with respect to tissue origin would be helpful to harness EVs as targeted therapeutic agents, particularly in oral regenerative medicine.