Extracellular vesicles: Squeezing every drop of regenerative potential of umbilical cord blood

Collection, cryopreservation and transplantation of umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived cells have become a popular option for regenerative medicine, not limited to the transplantation of hematopoietic cell progenitors only. Indeed, increasing evidence shows that extracellular vesicles (EV), which include a heterogeneous pool of membranous structures secreted by the vast majority of cells, can serve as powerful tools for cell-free therapy due to precise multifunctional molecular cargoes. In this issue, Hu et al. [1] described that EV extracted from UCB (UCB-EV) ameliorate bone loss in senile osteoporotic mice and promote in vitro osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells through miR-3960-mediated signaling. These results envision the capability of UCB-EV of priming multipotent stem cells toward the osteogenic cell lineage and interfering on bone resorption processes. Although processing and manufacturing of EV-based products have to further develop major issues, we foresee that EV will soon become new therapeutic products supplied by UCB banks for treating human diseases, including bone-related conditions.