Cargo-driven extracellular vesicles as pharmaceutical nanocarriers: A pharmaceutics-oriented comparison of animal exosomes and plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Exosomes and plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (PELNs) are increasingly investigated as biologically derived nanocarriers that can couple cargo protection with biointerface-enabled transport. From a pharmaceutics standpoint, their therapeutic performance is often cargo-governed (e.g., microRNAs and proteins) and is ultimately constrained by delivery determinants such as stability, biodistribution, cellular uptake, and intracellular trafficking. In this review, we compare animal-derived exosomes (ADEs) and PELNs through a formulation-centric lens, emphasizing how source-dependent molecular composition shapes critical delivery behaviors and translational feasibility. We reorganize representative preclinical evidence into pharmaceutics-relevant delivery scenarios-including systemic/vascular targeting, blood-brain barrier transport, oral gastrointestinal delivery, and tumor microenvironment modulation-to connect cargo identity with exposure-site interactions and pharmacodynamic outcomes. We further discuss engineering strategies for improving payload control, targeting precision, and dosing accuracy, including endogenous enrichment, exogenous loading, and surface functionalization, while highlighting scale-up and safety considerations introduced by modification. Finally, we delineate translational priorities required to advance exosome-based products toward clinical developm

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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