DNA hydrogel-delivered hypoxic exosomes alleviate radiation-induced skin injury by stabilizing AKT.

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)

Radiation-induced skin injury (RISI) is a common and refractory complication during tumor radiotherapy, characterized by radiation stress-induced impairment of keratinocyte viability and regenerative signaling, ultimately leading to delayed skin repair. Recently, hypoxia-preconditioned adipose-derived stem cell-derived exosomes (A-Hexos), a cell-free therapeutic strategy with favorable biocompatibility, has considerable potential in skin injury repair. However, the underlying mechanisms of A-Hexos in the treatment of RISI have not been fully elucidated, and their delivery efficiency and retention capacity at skin injury sites remain suboptimal. In this study, we aimed to enhance the targeted delivery efficiency of exosomes in skin tissues, systematically evaluate the therapeutic effects of A-Hexos in RISI repair, and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. In vitro experiments demonstrated that A-Hexos significantly restored the viability, proliferative capacity, and migratory behavior of irradiated keratinocytes (HaCaT). To enhance the local delivery efficiency and tissue retention of exosomes at injured sites in vivo, we constructed a DNA hydrogel-based delivery system loaded with A-Hexos (Gel@A-Hexos), which was engineered through the specific interaction between an exosome membrane protein-specific aptamer (Apt CD63) designed on long DNA strands and the exosomal memb

Evidence level

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

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