New paper: young and old donor EVs in kidney injury

I'm pleased to share that our latest study has just been accepted for publication in BMC Molecular and Cell Biology: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12860-026-00583-x

This is a follow-on from our previous study of EVs from young and old mouse plasma, which looked at their effects on naive macrophages: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12979-024-00472-x

In this new study, we looked at young and old mouse plasma EVs, young and old bone marrow-derived macrophages, and explored how they interact in the context of acute hypoxic kidney injury.

Two findings surprised us. First, the plasma EVs — whether from young or old donors — had no direct protective effect on the injured kidney cells, and young and old EVs were indistinguishable. This runs against the popular narrative that young EVs are broadly rejuvenating and old EVs are harmful. Secondly, macrophages from old mice were consistently better at protecting injured kidney cells than macrophages from young mice. Their secreted factors improved kidney cell viability, dampened inflammatory signals like IL-6 and CCL2, and reduced markers of scarring. The age of the macrophage donor — not the EVs — turned out to be the dominant factor.

You can read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12860-026-00583-x