Roles for Exosomes in the Pathogenesis, Drug Delivery and Therapy of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic, recurrent and inflammatory skin disease. Although conventional immunosuppressants can ameliorate psoriatic symptoms, it tends to relapse over time. Previous studies have shown that exosomes from both immune and non-immune cells participate in psoriatic immunopathology. The biologically active cargoes in exosomes accelerate psoriasis progression by altering gene profiles and signaling pathways of neighboring cells. On the other hand, exosomes can be utilized as drug delivery platforms for psoriasis treatment. Especially, engineered exosomes may serve as drug delivery systems for effective delivery of proteins, nucleic acids or other drugs due to their low immunogenicity, good stability and ability to fuse with target cells. Therefore, investigation into the mechanisms underlying intercellular communications mediated by exosomes in skin lesions likely helps design drugs for therapy of psoriasis. In this review, we have summarized recent advances in the biogenesis of exosomes and their potential roles in the pathogenesis and treatment of psoriasis and further discussed their challenges and future directions in psoriasis treatment. In particular, this review highlights the immunoregulatory function of exosomes derived from immune or non-immune cells and exosome-based therapeutic applications in psoriasis, including their drug delivery systems. Thus, this review may help accelerate applications of exosomes for drug delivery and treatment of psoriasis.