Therapeutic application of probiotic extracellular vesicles in inflammatory bowel disease

The chronic, recurring nature of Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the complications associated with conventional drugs have driven the search for next-generation therapies capable of overcoming the limitations of current treatment regimens. As functional proxies of their parent bacteria, probiotic extracellular vesicles (PEVs) have become the focus of attention in recent years because of their great potential in the treatment of IBD.

This review summarizes the overview of PEVs and recent advances of PEVs on the therapeutical effect and potential mechanisms in IBD. In addition, the review discusses the possible applications and challenges of PEVs in IBD. Key scientific concepts of review: PEVs facilitate a complex molecular crosstalk that preserves intestinal homeostasis in IBD by concurrently modulating immunological responses, reinforcing intestinal barrier, and stabilizing the gut microbiota. Although PEVs offer powerful innovations for the treatment of IBD, they still face challenges such as high-quality and scaled-up production, purification, safety, target specificity, and bioavailability. Consequently, future investigations will focus on establishing standard procedures of isolation, purification, and quality control while engineering PEVs for enhanced target-specific delivery in IBD treatment.