Fig. 1

The serum exosomes from TAK patients contributed to phenotypic modulation of VSMC. A Transmission electron microscope of serum exosomes from TAK patients. B Nanoparticle flow cytometry analysis showed the average particle size of approximately 86.9 nanometers. C Western blot identified positive expression of exosome markers, including TSG101 and CD9, and negative expression of Calnexin. D The flow chart of VSMC co-cultured with serum exosomes obtained from TAK patients or healthy individuals. E The expression level of α-smooth muscle actin was higher in the co-culture system with serum exosomes from TAK patients analyzed by qRT-PCR. F The intersection of twelve downregulated miRNAs in TAK-derived exosomes with miRNAs related to TAK as catalogued in the miRWalk database. G The qRT-PCR identified the decreased levels of miR-199a-5p in exosomes derived from TAK patients compared to healthy individuals. H The deepBase v3.0 showed the distribution of miR-199a-5p in human exosomes. I The starBase showed the enrichment analysis of miR-199a-5p targets in KEGG. HC: Healthy control; TAK: Takayasu’s arteritis; α-SMA: α-smooth muscle actin; KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; qRT-PCR: quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. *P ≤ 0.05; ****P ≤ 0.0001