Development of CAR Exosomes Targeting FAP for the Treatment of Intrauterine Adhesion
Wenyan Fu1,2, Kewen Qian2, Hongru Ai2
1Department of Assisted Reproduction, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Abstract:
Engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as promising cell-free platforms for immunomodulation and tissue repair. In this study, we generated EVs derived from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and investigated their biological and therapeutic functions. These FAP-CAR EVs effectively inhibited intrauterine fibrosis, promoted endometrial regeneration, and increased pregnancy rates in a mouse model of intrauterine adhesion. Importantly, the exosome-based therapy did not affect embryonic development or trigger systemic inflammation, indicating high safety compared with T-cell-based treatment. Mechanistically, while FAP-targeted T cells could suppress fibrosis, they also induced severe cytokine-release toxicity, which was completely avoided in the EV-based strategy. Together, these findings demonstrate that FAP is a critical target for fibrotic disease intervention and that CAR-T-derived EVs represent a safe and effective vesicle-based therapeutic modality.


