Organ-Specific Extracellular Vesicles in the Treatment of Ischemic Acute Organ Injury: Mechanisms, Successes, and Prospects

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)

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is a complex pathological process underlying numerous acute organ failures and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in diseases such as myocardial infarction, stroke, thrombosis, and organ transplantation. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have demonstrated considerable therapeutic potential, but their broad tropism and general repair signaling may limit their efficacy. This review addresses the emerging paradigm of using organ-specific EVs for the treatment of I/R injury in the respective organs. We summarize the existing studies performed on experimental animals showing that these native EVs could possess tissue tropism and carry a specialized cargo of proteins, miRNAs, and lipids tailored to the unique regenerative needs of their organ of origin, enabling them to precisely modulate key processes, including inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and angiogenesis. However, their clinical translation faces challenges related to scalable production, standardization, and the dualistic nature of their effects, which can be either protective or detrimental, depending on the cellular source and pathophysiological context. Future developments need to focus on overcoming these obstacles through rigorous isolation protocols, engineering strategies such as cargo enrichment and hybrid vesicle creation, and

Evidence level

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

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.