Exosome: The “Off-the-Shelf” Cellular Nanocomponent as a Potential Pathogenic Agent, a Disease Biomarker, and Neurotherapeutics

Abstract

Exosomes are nanosized “off-the-shelf” lipid vesicles released by almost all cell types and play a significant role in cell–cell communication. Exosomes have already been proven to carry cell-specific cargos of proteins, lipids, miRNA, and noncoding RNA (ribonucleic acid). These vesicles can be selectively taken up by the neighboring cell and can regulate cellular functions. Herein, we have discussed three different roles of exosomes in neuroscience. First, we have discussed how exosomes play the role of a pathogenic agent as a part of cell–cell communication and transmit pathogens such as amyloid-beta (Aβ), further helping in the propagation of neurodegenerative and other neurological diseases. In the next section, the review talks about the role of exosomes in biomarker discovery in neurological disorders. Toward the end, we have reviewed how exosomes can be harnessed and engineered for therapeutic purposes in different brain diseases. This review is based on the current knowledge generated in this field and our comprehension of this domain.

The Therapeutic Potential and Clinical Significance of Exosomes as Carriers of Drug Delivery System

“…Therefore, it opens up a promising possibility to deliver therapeutic substances to treat central neurological diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, strokes, etc. [ 63 ].…”

Nano-drug delivery system for pancreatic cancer: A visualization and bibliometric analysis

“…Exosomes, saucer-shaped extracellular vesicles of approximately 30–100 nm diameter that are delimited by a lipid bilayer, contain a large amount of biologically active molecules, such as lipids, enzymes, metabolites, and various non-coding RNAs (miRNAs, long noncoding RNAs, and circular RNAs) ( Yu et al, 2021 ), and play important roles in cell-cell communications in TME ( Aguilar-Cazares et al, 2022 ; Ghosh and Ghosh, 2022 ). In addition, due to the excellent biosafety, low immunogenicity, carrier properties, nanoscale penetration effect, longer half-life, and no microvascular embolism ( Ghosh et al, 2020 ), numerous studies have shown that as a carrier of conventional chemotherapy drugs ( Zhao et al, 2021 ; Premnath et al, 2022 ), targeted therapy ( Deng et al, 2021 ; Xu et al, 2021 ), or mediate photodynamic therapy and immunotherapy ( Jang et al, 2021 ), exosomes have shown potential as a new NDDS for the treatment of PC.…”

Application of exosomes as nanocarriers in cancer therapy

“…61 The small size of exosomes allows them to permeate tissues, diffuse into the blood, and even cross the blood-brain barrier to transport therapeutic drugs to nerve cells, 62 which opens a new therapeutic avenue for the treatment of central nervous system diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases and strokes. 63 (6) Exosomes could deliver hydrophobic and hydrophilic drug molecules and provide better drug protection during drug delivery. (7) Tumor-derived exosomes evade the phagocytosis of the mononuclear phagocyte system by binding to signalregulated protein a (SIRPa) on the surface of macrophages through CD47, thus sending a ''don't eat me'' signal.…”