Exosomes as new generation vehicles for drug delivery systems

Exosomes are the smallest subtype of mobile extracellular vesicles (EVs), and round sacs with a diameter between 30 and 120 nm are released by almost all cell types into the surrounding biological fluids. They are increasingly becoming recognized as critical cell-to-cell communication mediators. Exosomes derived from cells contain particular biomolecules that can be regarded as a "fingerprint" of the parent cells, and their contents that vary under pathogenic conditions can be used as potential biomarkers for diagnosing diseases. Using exosomes as biomarkers, cell-free therapeutics, cargo delivery vehicles, fundamental research into exosome dynamics, and vaccines are the main clinical applications of exosomes. Recent clinical trials have shown that exosomes are ideal nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery to treat various diseases, including cancer, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammation. Exosomes appear to provide several benefits over traditional artificial carriers, according to many studies, which opens up new possibilities in the field of drug delivery systems. For this review study, I examined multiple articles over the previous 20 years that discussed the use of exosomes as new potential cargo delivery vehicles in treating various diseases as well as the opportunities and difficulties in this area. Overall, understanding the fundamental mechanisms that govern the various functions of exosomes that have been discovered is still lacking, and more multidisciplinary research is needed to address these nanosized vesicles for the future directions of this novel field in early diagnosis and effective treatment. Consequently, it is expected that exosomes will play a crucial part in the development of next-generation drug delivery vehicles, biomarkers for early diagnosis, and effective prognosis of diseases.