Exosomes as a New Trend for Cell-Free Therapy

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is still a major and life-threateningcomplication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(AHSCT) with a high rate of incidence, morbidity, and mortality. A widerange of approaches to control the GvHD are currently under researchamong which the preventive approaches is the most desirable to achieve.Immune-modulation features of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) makethem as a promising strategy to prevent and treatment of inflammatorydiseases including GvHD. A series of ongoing and completed clinicaltrials on GvHD have reported the great response of patients to MSCtherapy with a dramatic decrease of inflammatory factors and an increasein patients’ survival. One of the most concerns of the application of MSCsis their plasticity and also poor information about probable long-termside effects. The recent solution is to use the cells’ byproduct insteadof cells themselves. A most effective byproduct of cells is extracellularmicrovesicles and exosomes which have some function of cells withoutconcerns of cellular plasticity and self-replicating capacity. Exosomesare naturally occurring extracellular vesicles released by exocytosis frommany types of cells and contain lipids, proteins and RNA, which allowthem to participate in the intercellular communication processes. Dueto the origin, MSC-derived exosomes mostly have immune-suppressivefunctions and their small size makes them ideal for GvHD treatment.Moreover, some recent studies and patents have claimed the possibilityof using exosomes as a preventive strategy in addition to treatment.Growing tendency besides hopeful results of the application of MSCderivedexosomes in GvHD prevention and management implicate thebright future of cell derivatives rather than cell therapy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Exosome ، Graft-versus-host disease ، Cell therapy