WHAT ARE MIGRASOMES

What are migrasomes?

Specialised organelles involved in intercellular communication

The review describes migrasomes as specialised organelles involved in intercellular communication. They were first identified in migrating cells: as a cell moves, it leaves retraction fibres, and migrasomes commonly form at fibre junctions or tips.

While tethered to the cell, a migrasome can act as a local platform for exocytosis; after detachment, it has the properties of a large extracellular vesicle. Typical diameters are about 500–3000 nm, and the lumen can contain multiple smaller vesicles.

Migrasomes are not confined to culture dishes. The review brings together ex vivo and in vivo observations from zebrafish embryos, the chicken chorioallantoic membrane, and mouse vasculature, liver, and spleen.

Distinguishing Migrasomes from Other EVs

Migrasomes vs conventional extracellular vesicles

Five vesicle types
Property	Migrasomes	Exosomes	Microvesicles	Large oncosomes	Apoptotic body
Location	Tethered to migrating cells; large extracellular vesicles after detachment	Extracellular and separate from the cell body	Extracellular and separate from the cell body	Released extracellularly by tumour cells	Released extracellularly by apoptotic cells
Size	0.5–3 μm	35–150 nm	0.1–1 μm	1–10 μm	1–5 μm
Formation	Retraction-fibre derived and Tspan4-dependent	Multivesicular body (MVB) pathway	Plasma-membrane budding	Tumour-cell membrane blebbing and shedding	Apoptosis
Canonical markers	ITGs, Tspan4	Alix, CD63, Tsg101	ARF6, KIF23	ARF6, Caveolin-1, GAPDH	cCaspase-3, PS
Biological roles	Directed cell migration, short- and long-range communication, organ development, mitochondrial quality control, and coagulation	Long-range cell communication, immune regulation, tumour-microenvironment control, and targeted delivery	Coagulation, inflammatory signalling, angiogenesis, and tumour-microenvironment remodelling	Transfer of tumour-associated cargo that promotes invasion, metastasis, and microenvironment remodelling	Induction of macrophage engulfment while limiting severe inflammation
Research value	Tumour metastasis and microenvironment; cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and inflammatory disease; liquid-biopsy biomarkers; complex-drug delivery	Liquid-biopsy biomarkers and natural drug-delivery systems	Cardiovascular and coagulation mechanisms; disease-activity and acute-injury monitoring	Tumour progression and metastasis; microenvironment and resistance mechanisms; tumour biomarkers	Apoptosis pathways and mechanisms; immune tolerance and autoimmune disease

Yu & Yu, Cell Research (2025), Table 1

Migrasome cargo

Migrasomes carry diverse information and materials inside and out

The review classifies migrasome cargo into five categories: secretory vesicles, damaged mitochondria, mRNA, viruses, and coagulation factors.

Secretory vesicles, damaged mitochondria, virus particles, and mRNA reside in the lumen, whereas coagulation factors on neutrophil-derived migrasomes are adsorbed to the outer surface. These locations are linked to different loading and release routes, some of which remain unresolved.

Yu & Yu, Cell Research (2025), Fig. 3

Five fiber-connected migrasomes separately contain secretory vesicles, damaged mitochondria-associated material, mRNA, and virus particles, while coagulation-factor-like proteins adsorb only to the fifth migrasome's outer surface.