New insights of engineered extracellular vesicles as promising therapeutic systems

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are natural biological particles that carry and deliver molecular fingerprints from parental cells to receptor cells, where they take effect. EVs are widely recognized for their role as intercellular communication mediators and high correlation with disease evolution, making them a valuable target in many aspects, especially biomarker profiling and therapeutics. In the past decade, scientists from various disciplines, including biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering, have jointly devoted efforts to advance the study of EVs from fundamental molecular mechanisms to EV-based translational medicine, covering EV marker-based diagnostics and EV-based drug delivery. Diverse interfacial engineering strategies have been developed to facilitate in vitro and in vivo studies of EVs. This special issue, titled "Interfacial Engineering Strategies for EV in vitro and in vivo Studies", focuses on understanding the engineering logic and design rules of EVs in biomedical fields, highlighting their therapeutic potential in combating many diseases. This will provide new insights into the construction of promising diagnostic and therapeutic systems.

Keywords: Extracellular vesicles; cell-free therapy; drug delivery; engineering strategies; nanomedicine.