The therapeutic potential of exosomes in immunotherapy

Abstract

Exosomes are found in various tissues of the body and carry abundant contents including nucleic acids, proteins, and metabolites, which continuously flow between cells of various tissues and mediate important intercellular communication. In addition, exosomes from different cellular sources possess different physiopathological immunomodulatory effects, which are closely related to the immune regeneration of normal or abnormal organs and tissues. Here, we focus on the mechanistic interactions between exosomes and the human immune system, introduce the immuno-regenerative therapeutic potential of exosomes in common clinical immune-related diseases, such as infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and tumors, and reveal the safety and efficacy of exosomes as a novel cell-free immune regenerative therapy.

Keywords: COVID - 19; cancer; exosome (EXO); immune disease; nanodrug.

Figure 1

(A) Exosomes are widely present in the human body and can be extracted from a variety of body fluids, such as: tears, saliva, milk, blood, urine, etc. (B) Exosomes are closely associated with the physiological and pathological activities of the human body, and are involved in the process of immunoregulation in a variety of diseases, like cancers and autoimmune disorders. (C) Nucleic acids, proteins, metabolites and other components contained in exosomes extracted from human blood circulation have great potential to assist in the clinical diagnosis, process analysis and prognosis prediction of tumors and other diseases.