Extracellular vesicle-based Nanotherapeutics: Emerging frontiers in anti-inflammatory therapy

Dysregulated inflammation is a complicated pathological process involved in various diseases, and the treatment of inflammation-linked disorders currently represents an enormous global burden. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized, lipid membrane-enclosed vesicles secreted by virtually all types of cells, which act as an important intercellular communicative medium. Considering their capacity to transfer bioactive substances, both unmodified and engineered EVs are increasingly being explored as potential therapeutic agents or therapeutic vehicles. Moreover, as the nature's own delivery tool, EVs possess many desirable advantages, such as stability, biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, low toxicity, and biological barrier permeability. The application of EV-based therapy to combat inflammation, though still in an early stage of development, has profound transformative potential. In this review, we highlight the recent progress in EV engineering for inflammation targeting and modulation, summarize their preclinical applications in the treatment of inflammatory disorders, and present our views on the anti-inflammatory applications of EV-based nanotherapeutics.