Fangyan Wang,1 Jiayin Feng,1 Anqi Jin,1 Yunyuan Shao,1 Mengen Shen,1 Jiaqi Ma,1 Lanjie Lei,1 Liangle Liu2 

1Key Laboratory of Artificial Organs and Computational Medicine in Zhejiang Province, Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou, 310015, People’s Republic of China; 2The Third Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325200, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Lanjie Lei; Liangle Liu, Email leilanjie1988@163.com; liuliangle@wmu.edu.cn

Abstract: Traditional drug therapies suffer from problems such as easy drug degradation, side effects, and treatment resistance. Traditional disease diagnosis also suffers from high error rates and late diagnosis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoscale spherical lipid bilayer vesicles secreted by cells that carry various biologically active components and are integral to intercellular communication. EVs can be found in different body fluids and may reflect the state of the parental cells, making them ideal noninvasive biomarkers for disease-specific diagnosis. The multifaceted characteristics of EVs render them optimal candidates for drug delivery vehicles, with evidence suggesting their efficacy in the treatment of various ailments. However, poor stability and easy degradation of natural EVs have affected their applications. To solve the problems of poor stability and easy degradation of natural EVs, they can be engineered and modified to obtain more stable and multifunctional EVs. In this study, we review the shortcomings of traditional drug delivery methods and describe how to modify EVs to form engineered EVs to improve their utilization. An innovative stimulus-responsive drug delivery system for EVs has also been proposed. We also summarize the current applications and research status of EVs in the diagnosis and treatment of different systemic diseases, and look forward to future research directions, providing research ideas for scholars.

Keywords: extracellular vesicles, drug delivery, disease diagnosis, disease treatment