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Review
. 2023 Apr 19;4(2):170-190.
doi: 10.20517/evcna.2023.12. eCollection 2023.

Biodistribution of therapeutic extracellular vesicles

Dhanu Gupta  1   2 , Oscar P B Wiklander  2 , Matthew J A Wood  1 , Samir El-Andaloussi  2
Affiliations
Review

Biodistribution of therapeutic extracellular vesicles

Dhanu Gupta et al. Extracell Vesicles Circ Nucl Acids. .

Abstract

The field of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has seen a tremendous paradigm shift in the past two decades, from being regarded as cellular waste bags to being considered essential mediators in intercellular communication. Their unique ability to transfer macromolecules across cells and biological barriers has made them a rising star in drug delivery. Mounting evidence suggests that EVs can be explored as efficient drug delivery vehicles for a range of therapeutic macromolecules. In contrast to many synthetic delivery systems, these vesicles appear exceptionally well tolerated in vivo. This tremendous development in the therapeutic application of EVs has been made through technological advancement in labelling and understanding the in vivo biodistribution of EVs. Here in this review, we have summarised the recent findings in EV in vivo pharmacokinetics and discussed various biological barriers that need to be surpassed to achieve tissue-specific delivery.

Keywords: CNS targeting; Exosomes; extracellular vesicles; in vivo biodistribution; targeted delivery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Gupta D is a consultant, Wood MJA and El-Andaloussi S is a co-founder and shareholder of Evox Therapeutics Ltd, Oxford, United Kingdom. Evox Therapeutics Ltd is a company developing engineered exosomes to deliver protein and nucleic acid-based therapeutics.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Exogenous and endogenous means of labelling EVs for biomedical applications.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The anatomical structure of different types of endothelium barriers present in different tissues.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Liver tissue architecture and proposed model of nanoparticle clearance by the mononuclear phagocyte system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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