Exosomes as bio‑inspired nanocarriers for RNA delivery: preparation and applications

Nanocarriers as drug/biomolecule delivery systems have been significantly developed during recent decades. Given
the stability, reasonable delivery efficiency, and safety of nanocarriers, there are several barriers in the fulfillment of
successful clinical application of these delivery systems. These challenges encouraged drug delivery researchers to
establish innovative nanocarriers with longer circulation time, high stability, and high compatibility. Exosomes are
extracellular nanometer-sized vesicles released through various cells. These vesicles serve as nanocarriers, possessing
great potential to overcome some obstacles encountered in gene and drug delivery due to their natural affinity to
recipient cells and the inherent capability to shuttle the genes, lipids, proteins, and RNAs between cells. So far, there
has been a lot of valuable research on drug delivery by exosomes, but research on RNA delivery, especially mRNA,
is very limited. Since mRNA-based vaccines and therapies have recently gained particular prominence in various
diseases, it is essential to find a suitable delivery system due to the large size and destructive nature of these nucleic
acids. That’s why we’re going to take a look at the unique features of exosomes and their isolation and loading methods,
to embrace this idea that exosome-mediated mRNA-based therapies would be introduced as a very efficient
strategy in disease treatment within the near future.