Although exosomes have been described as a “powerful” therapy in regenerative medicine over the past few years, they are not always beneficial, as they are only “messengers” among cells, a research team at National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) said yesterday.
Extracellular vesicles have become a hot topic in regenerative medicine over the past few years, but related products’ active ingredients and how they are distributed are not validated, the research team said.
Exosomes act like “messengers” between cells, transmitting messages and providing coordination, NHRI president Sytwu Huey-kang (司徒惠康) said.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Most commercial exosome products only highlight the source cells, but their efficacy lacks scientific proof, so the team focused on two areas — breast cancer lung metastasis and nerve injury repair — and found that while exosomes have potential as therapeutic tools, they can also exacerbate disease, said Li Hua-jung (李華容), the deputy director of the NHRI’s Institute of Cellular and System Medicine.
The study indicated that exosomes are not always beneficial, as in some situations they might also promote cancer metastasis, inflammatory responses or alter the tumor microenvironment, Li said, adding that it is difficult to confirm the efficacy and safety of exosome products that do not explain their ingredients and mechanisms.
The team also utilized a small-molecule induction strategy to stimulate mesenchymal stem cells into producing “functional extracellular vesicles” with neurorepair potential, she said.
Further studies suggest these vesicles possess neuroprotective and repair capabilities, she said, adding that in vivo experiments showed that they can improve learning and cognitive performance in mice with brain injury.
The therapeutic efficacy and safety of exosomes highly depend on the state of the source cells, the encapsulated active ingredients, the distribution in the body and their ability to precisely target the lesion, she said.
The future of extracellular vesicle therapy should not only focus on “producing extracellular vesicles,” but also on establishing a comprehensive quality standard that is “definable, detectable, traceable and verifiable,” to ensure patient safety and mitigate market irregularities, the research team said.
The team’s studies were published by international academic journals Cancer Research and Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, as well as the domestic Contemporary Pharmaceutical Regulations Monthly (當代醫藥法規月刊) published by the Center for Drug Evaluation, the NHRI said.
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