Biomimetic Exosomes: A New Generation of Drug Delivery System

Overview

Journal Front Bioeng Biotechnol

Date 2022 Jun 9

PMID 35677298

Authors

Xudong Wang

Xian Zhao

Youxiu Zhong

Jiuheng Shen

Wenlin An

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Most of the naked drugs, including small molecules, inorganic agents, and biomacromolecule agents, cannot be used directly for disease treatment because of their poor stability and undesirable pharmacokinetic behavior. Their shortcomings might seriously affect the exertion of their therapeutic effects. Recently, a variety of exogenous and endogenous nanomaterials have been developed as carriers for drug delivery. Among them, exosomes have attracted great attention due to their excellent biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, low toxicity, and ability to overcome biological barriers. However, exosomes used as drug delivery carriers have significant challenges, such as low yields, complex contents, and poor homogeneity, which limit their application. Engineered exosomes or biomimetic exosomes have been fabricated through a variety of approaches to tackle these drawbacks. We summarized recent advances in biomimetic exosomes over the past decades and addressed the opportunities and challenges of the next-generation drug delivery system.

Citing Articles

Leveraging nature's nanocarriers: Translating insights from extracellular vesicles to biomimetic synthetic vesicles for biomedical applications.

Chen Y, Douanne N, Wu T, Kaur I, Tsering T, Erzingatzian A Sci Adv. 2025; 11(9):eads5249.

PMID: 40009680 PMC: 11864201. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads5249.

Mesenchymal Stem-Cell-Derived Exosomes as Novel Drug Carriers in Anti-Cancer Treatment: A Myth or Reality?.

Harrell C, Volarevic A, Djonov V, Volarevic V Cells. 2025; 14(3).

PMID: 39936993 PMC: 11817634. DOI: 10.3390/cells14030202.

Research progress of mosquito-borne virus mRNA vaccines.

Sun N, Su Z, Zheng X Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2025; 33(1):101398.

PMID: 39834558 PMC: 11743085. DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2024.101398.

Evolution of antisense oligonucleotides: navigating nucleic acid chemistry and delivery challenges.

Ruchi R, Raman G, Kumar V, Bahal R Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2024; 20(1):63-80.

PMID: 39653607 PMC: 11823135. DOI: 10.1080/17460441.2024.2440095.

Edge advances in nanodrug therapies for osteoarthritis treatment.

Liao J, Gu Q, Liu Z, Wang H, Yang X, Yan R Front Pharmacol. 2024; 15:1402825.

PMID: 39539625 PMC: 11559267. DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1402825.

References

Antimisiaris S, Mourtas S, Marazioti A . Exosomes and Exosome-Inspired Vesicles for Targeted Drug Delivery. Pharmaceutics. 2018; 10(4). PMC: 6321407. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics10040218. View

Jiang W, Ma P, Deng L, Liu Z, Wang X, Liu X . Hepatitis A virus structural protein pX interacts with ALIX and promotes the secretion of virions and foreign proteins through exosome-like vesicles. J Extracell Vesicles. 2020; 9(1):1716513. PMC: 7006762. DOI: 10.1080/20013078.2020.1716513. View

Gyorgy B, Sage C, Indzhykulian A, Scheffer D, Brisson A, Tan S . Rescue of Hearing by Gene Delivery to Inner-Ear Hair Cells Using Exosome-Associated AAV. Mol Ther. 2017; 25(2):379-391. PMC: 5368844. DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2016.12.010. View

Min Y, Caster J, Eblan M, Wang A . Clinical Translation of Nanomedicine. Chem Rev. 2015; 115(19):11147-90. PMC: 4607605. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00116. View

El Andaloussi S, Mager I, Breakefield X, Wood M . Extracellular vesicles: biology and emerging therapeutic opportunities. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2013; 12(5):347-57. DOI: 10.1038/nrd3978. View

Diemer V, Ollivier N, Leclercq B, Drobecq H, Vicogne J, Agouridas V . A cysteine selenosulfide redox switch for protein chemical synthesis. Nat Commun. 2020; 11(1):2558. PMC: 7244499. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16359-6. View

Vietri M, Radulovic M, Stenmark H . The many functions of ESCRTs. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2019; 21(1):25-42. DOI: 10.1038/s41580-019-0177-4. View

De Rubis G, Rajeev Krishnan S, Bebawy M . Liquid Biopsies in Cancer Diagnosis, Monitoring, and Prognosis. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2019; 40(3):172-186. DOI: 10.1016/j.tips.2019.01.006. View

Sun X, Liu Z, Welsher K, Robinson J, Goodwin A, Zaric S . Nano-Graphene Oxide for Cellular Imaging and Drug Delivery. Nano Res. 2010; 1(3):203-212. PMC: 2834318. DOI: 10.1007/s12274-008-8021-8. View

10.

Lian Z, Ji T . Functional peptide-based drug delivery systems. J Mater Chem B. 2020; 8(31):6517-6529. DOI: 10.1039/d0tb00713g. View

11.

Rao L, Xia S, Xu W, Tian R, Yu G, Gu C . Decoy nanoparticles protect against COVID-19 by concurrently adsorbing viruses and inflammatory cytokines. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020; 117(44):27141-27147. PMC: 7959535. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014352117. View

12.

Sun T, Zhang Y, Pang B, Hyun D, Yang M, Xia Y . Engineered nanoparticles for drug delivery in cancer therapy. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014; 53(46):12320-64. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201403036. View

13.

Zhong J, Xia B, Shan S, Zheng A, Zhang S, Chen J . High-quality milk exosomes as oral drug delivery system. Biomaterials. 2021; 277:121126. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.121126. View

14.

Moreira J, Ishida T, Gaspar R, Allen T . Use of the post-insertion technique to insert peptide ligands into pre-formed stealth liposomes with retention of binding activity and cytotoxicity. Pharm Res. 2002; 19(3):265-9. DOI: 10.1023/a:1014434732752. View

15.

Huang X, Li M, Green D, Williams D, Patil A, Mann S . Interfacial assembly of protein-polymer nano-conjugates into stimulus-responsive biomimetic protocells. Nat Commun. 2013; 4:2239. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3239. View

16.

Go G, Lee J, Choi D, Kim S, Gho Y . Extracellular Vesicle-Mimetic Ghost Nanovesicles for Delivering Anti-Inflammatory Drugs to Mitigate Gram-Negative Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicle-Induced Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. Adv Healthc Mater. 2018; 8(4):e1801082. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201801082. View

17.

De La Pena H, Madrigal J, Rusakiewicz S, Bencsik M, Cave G, Selman A . Artificial exosomes as tools for basic and clinical immunology. J Immunol Methods. 2009; 344(2):121-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.jim.2009.03.011. View

18.

Bulcha J, Wang Y, Ma H, Tai P, Gao G . Viral vector platforms within the gene therapy landscape. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2021; 6(1):53. PMC: 7868676. DOI: 10.1038/s41392-021-00487-6. View

19.

Flemming A . mRNA vaccine shows promise in autoimmunity. Nat Rev Immunol. 2021; 21(2):72. PMC: 7802056. DOI: 10.1038/s41577-021-00504-3. View

20.

Zhou M, Luo Y, Zeng W, Yang X, Chen T, Zhang L . A Co-delivery System Based on a Dimeric Prodrug and Star-Shaped Polymeric Prodrug Micelles for Drug Delivery. Front Chem. 2021; 9:765021. PMC: 8569866. DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2021.765021. View