Ye YL, Liu L. Engineering the future of nanomedicine: Strategic approaches to extracellular vesicle-based drug administration regimens. World J Stem Cells 2025; 17(7): 107080 [DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i7.107080]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Lei Liu, Doctor, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, No. 14, 3rd Section of Renminnan Road, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. liulei@scu.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Jul 26, 2025; 17(7): 107080 Published online Jul 26, 2025. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i7.107080
Engineering the future of nanomedicine: Strategic approaches to extracellular vesicle-based drug administration regimens
Yuan-Long Ye, Lei Liu
Yuan-Long Ye, Lei Liu, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Ye YL contributed to the literature review, drafting, and writing of this paper; Liu L contributed to the revision and editing of the manuscript, and gave approval to the final version.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province, No. 24NSFSC0679; and State Key Clinical Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lei Liu, Doctor, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases & Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, No. 14, 3rd Section of Renminnan Road, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. liulei@scu.edu.cn
Received: March 16, 2025 Revised: April 21, 2025 Accepted: June 19, 2025 Published online: July 26, 2025 Processing time: 131 Days and 23.5 Hours
Abstract
As the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in stem cell therapy is increasingly recognized, more researchers regard them as a promising new natural delivery system. When exerting therapeutic effects, EVs exhibit several advantages, including low immunogenicity/cytotoxicity, the ability to traverse biological barriers, and high potential for engineering. However, several challenges remain in the clinical application of EVs. Their plasma half-life is relatively short, and they tend to accumulate in parenchymal organs (e.g., liver and spleen) within a short time. Moreover, their targeting capabilities are neither precise nor highly effective. Additionally, EVs lack controlled and sustained release properties, necessitating the design of effective delivery strategies to ensure that therapeutic concentrations are achieved and maintained at the target site for an adequate duration. This review summarizes the latest drug delivery strategies involving EVs, focusing on systemic and local applications. It introduces various engineering approaches, administration strategies, and auxiliary delivery systems. Finally, the review discusses existing challenges in EV-based drug delivery and provides insights into the trends for future development in this field.
Core Tip: This review summarizes the latest drug delivery strategies involving extracellular vesicles, focusing on systemic and local applications. It introduces various engineering approaches, administration strategies, and auxiliary delivery systems. Finally, the review discusses existing challenges in extracellular vesicle-based drug delivery and provides insights into the trends for future development in this field.
