The potential role of extracellular vesicles as hepatic diagnostic and therapeutic tools: Can the dream come true?

Abstract

Chronic liver disease of various aetiologies with underlying cirrhosis is a serious cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality globally. The emerging role of non-invasive diagnostic/therapeutic tools in different stages of liver disease represents a challenge and an area of great interest for many researchers, which could differ in the clinical outcome of liver disease patients. Over a decade, several studies have evaluated the emerging role of circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in different liver diseases; They are small membrane-encapsulated particles that can act as potent vehicles via their cargos between different hepatic cell types and also between organs, because of their ability to transfer proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids to affect the recipient cells' related physiological functions. Hence, the issues related to the potential use of EVs as biomarkers in liver disease diagnosis, prognosis, and even to assess the response to treatment, have been handled in our review concluding that EVs have shown promising results as potential diagnostic tools and for further evaluation as therapeutic targets.