The emerging role of exosomes as novel therapeutics – biology, technologies, clinical applications, and the next

The extracellular vesicles (EVs) research area has grown rapidly because of their pivotal roles in intercellular communications and maintaining homeostasis of individual organism. As a subtype of EVs, exosomes are made via unique biogenesis pathway and exhibit disparate functional and phenotypic characteristics. Functionally, exosomes transfer biological messages from donor cell to recipient cell, which makes exosomes as a novel therapeutic platform delivering therapeutic materials to the target tissue/cell. Currently, both academia and industry try to develop exosome platform‐based therapeutics for disease management, some of which are already in clinical trials. Researchers from ILIAS Biologics Inc discuss focusing on therapeutic values of exosomes, recent advances in therapeutic exosome platform development, and late development of exosome therapeutics in dverse therapeutic areas.

Exosome engineering methods for encapsulation of therapeutic agents

The techniques of loading cargo into exosomes can be divided into four approaches. A, Naïve exosomes are relatively simple technique, but the bioactive molecules contained in them are unknown. B, Passive methods are based on the use of sonication, Freezing/Thawing cycles, or electroporation to destabilize exosome membrane integrity, allowing drugs to be introduced into exosomes. C and D, Active methods spontaneously load interested molecules by hijacking the exosome biogenesis pathway. These techniques are divided into two approaches depending on whether the loaded cargo can reside as free form in the exosome