Why extracellular vesicles?
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, are minuscule cellular structures that play a crucial role in facilitating intercellular communication. These tiny vesicles are released by cells and carry a diverse cargo comprising proteins, nucleic acids, and various other molecules. Functioning as messengers, they ferry these cargos to recipient cells, exerting influence on their behavior and function.
In addition to their role in intercellular communication, EVs have several other noteworthy characteristics:
- Cell-Derived Messengers: EVs serve as cell-derived messengers, facilitating intercellular communication and information transfer.
- Robust and Resilient: EVs exhibit robustness and resilience, circulating in bodily fluids and protecting cargo from degradation.
- Targeted Therapeutic Delivery: EVs possess inherent targeting abilities, enabling them to deliver therapeutics to specific cells or tissues.
- Customizable Cargo: EVs have customizable cargo compositions, including proteins, nucleic acids, and other molecules, tailored for specific applications.
- Diverse Cell Sources: EVs can be derived from various cell types, providing a wide range of sources for isolation and study.
What makes EVs even more intriguing is their capacity to be functionalized, serving as EV-biomarker platforms, EV-drug delivery platforms, and EV-therapeutic platforms. Through engineering or modification, researchers can enhance the inherent capabilities of EVs and customize them to specific applications.
By harnessing the functional properties of EVs and leveraging their unique characteristics, researchers aim to unlock their potential applications in diagnostics, drug delivery, and therapeutics. At Jotbody, we are committed to exploring these possibilities and staying at the forefront of EV-based research and development.