Fig. 4
From: Extracellular signals regulate the biogenesis of extracellular vesicles
The diagram of EVs in clinical application. a EVs participate in various disease progression including cancer, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. For example, tumor-derived EVs can help pre-metastatic niche formation, act within tumor environment by educating different types of stroma cells and propagate tumor heterogeneity. EVs become potential novel targets for therapeutic intervention. b The low immunogenicity, efficiency and stability of EVs make them promising vehicles for drug delivery. Exogenous and endogenous loading approaches can be applied. For example, EVs can be loaded with specific cargo through direct transfection, and cells can be engineered to express the therapeutic of interest. In addition, EVs can also be modified to help deliver to the desired site of action. c EVs contribute significantly to drug resistance. Exosomes encapsulate and export drugs, horizontally transfer drug efflux pumps to recipient cells, and transfer biomolecules that promote drug inactivation. d EVs reflect heterogeneous biological changes related to diseases, supporting disease prediction, diagnosis, prognosis and surveillance with simplicity and stability. Created with BioRender.com