Potential Effects of Exosomes and their MicroRNA Carrier on Osteoporosis

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a typical localized or systemic skeletal disease in the clinic, mainly characterized by the weakness of bone formation and the increase of bone resorption, resulting in the decrease of bone mineral density (BMD), and frequently occurs in postmenopausal women. With the growth of the aging population, the risk of osteoporosis or even osteoporotic fracture brings great economic pressure on society and families. Although anti-osteoporosis drugs have been developed, there are still some side effects in the treatment group. Hence, that is a compelling need for more reasonable therapeutic strategies. Exosomes are nanosized extracellular vesicles (EVs), secreted by virtually all types of cells in vivo, which play an important role in intercellular communication. Compared with conventional drugs and stem cells transplantation therapy, exosomes have apparent advantages of lower toxicity and immunogenicity. Exosomes contain many functional molecules, such as proteins, lipids, mRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs), which can be transferred into recipient cells to regulate a series of signaling pathways and influence physiological and pathological behavior. In this review, we briefly summarize the current knowledge of exosomes and the therapeutic potential of exosomal miRNAs derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and macrophages in osteoporosis. Finally, a prospect of new treatment strategies for osteoporosis using new biomaterial scaffolds combined with exosomes is also given.

Extracellular Vesicles as Novel Drug-Delivery Systems through Intracellular Communications

“…However, because liposomes are non-natural substances in the human body, problems such as immunogenicity and biotoxicity remain. On the other hand, EVs are natural substances with low immunogenicity and biotoxicity [103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116]. Cancer-cell-derived EVs include cancer antigens according to individual cancer types, and the anti-tumor immune response is induced by the uptake of dendritic cells, which are the main antigen-presenting cells [117][118][119][120].…”

MSC-EV therapy for bone/cartilage diseases

“…Downregulating these molecules rescued the phenotypes, suggesting that they are potential therapeutic targets for osteoporosis. Numerous cargos targeting osteoporosis have been investigated in recent literature and are well summarized in other reviews ( Li et al, 2022 ; Yun et al, 2021 ).…”

The potential therapeutic role of extracellular vesicles in critical-size bone defects: Spring of cell-free regenerative medicine is coming

“…Currently, EVs are reputed to be typical representatives of nanotherapeutics carrying abundant nucleic acids, proteins, lipid substances and bioactive small molecules derived from parent cells ( Puddu et al, 2010 ). They transfer internal cargoes to target cells through ligand‒receptor interactions, endocytosis or direct membrane fusion to exert regulatory effects ( Li Q. C. et al, 2022 ). Studies have shown that EVs obtained from MSCs have more ideal biocompatibility, effective cell interaction characteristics, exogenous cargo delivery and the ability to target specific tissues ( van der Koog et al, 2022 ), and most importantly, they overcome the limitations of traditional MSC treatment ( Malekpour et al, 2022 ).…”