Extracellular vesicles as a next-generation therapeutic nanocarrier in disease treatments

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-scale vesicles derived from different cell sources and contain different bioactive cargo involved in intercellular communication and induction of phenotypic and functional changes in recipient cells. As a result, EVs have been considered a potential therapeutic delivery nanocarrier for different disease applications. This review will first introduce different types of EVs and their general physiochemical and biological characteristics to better understand the mechanisms involving their biogenesis, intracellular trafficking, and functional activities that enable further advancement of the EV-mediated drug delivery of therapeutics. Next, it will illustrate multiple advantages of EVs compared to currently available drug delivery platforms. These include desired biocompatibility and immunogenicity, enhanced stability, the ability to penetrate natural barriers, and target specificity, and have successfully demonstrated to improve therapeutic outcomes in different disease applications. Finally, this review will also highlight several current challenges, such as off-target toxicity and difficulties in large-scale manufacturing that hinder the potential for clinical translation, and discuss the future outlooks of EVs as a promising drug nanocarrier platform in disease treatment applications.