Extracellular vesicles: The future of therapeutics and drug delivery systems

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanometric size, a cell-derived drug delivery carrier composed of membrane-bound structures, release into the cellular medium and found in body fluids. EVs serve a dual purpose, acting as a means of disposing of redundant material and a method of communication between cells. Their natural origin, biocompatibility, protein, and nucleic acid composition boosts superior targeting capabilities. While strong safety profile, intrinsic pleiotropic therapeutic effects, ability to accommodate both lipophilic and hydrophilic agents, and pass through blood–brain barrier makes them exceptional nanocarrier. Several synthetic drug delivery methods have been fabricated and introduced to the market throughout the previous few decades. However, their inefficiency, cytotoxicity, and/or immunogenicity hinder their applications. Evidence demonstrates that EVs play a critical role in major physiological and pathological processes, such as cellular homeostasis, infection propagation, cancer progression, and cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, EVs offer a range of advantages over traditional synthetic carriers, thus paving the way for innovative drug delivery approaches. Although therapeutic applications as carrier is limited due to lack of scalable isolation techniques and efficient drug loading, EVs serve great potential as nanocarriers. The review summarizes and discuss recent progress and challenges associated with development of EVs as nanocarrier.