Extracellular vesicles are small lipid-based membrane-bound entities shed by cells under both physiological and pathological conditions. Their discovery as intercellular communicators through transfer of nucleic acid- and protein-based cargos between cells locally and at distance in a highly specific manner has created recent excitement. The information they transport and their composition may vary depending on the cell of origin as well as the eliciting stimulus. Such sensitive changes in vesicle characteristics hold significant promise for the improved diagnosis of pathological conditions, including infections and neoplastic lesions in a minimally invasive way. Similarly, these cell-derived vesicles exhibit promising characteristics that could enhance drug targeting efficiencies. Recent developments in the field have aimed at studying EVs as novel drug carriers due to their natural composition, biological function and selective cell interaction. In this review, we discuss new research avenues in diagnostics and drug therapy based on extracellular vesicles. We show how cell-derived vesicles can be harvested and engineered to meet application-specific design requirements. We finally discuss potential risks encountered when translating extracellular vesicle based approaches into (pre)clinical applications.

中文翻译：

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用于药物治疗和诊断的细胞源性囊泡：机遇和挑战

细胞外囊泡是细胞在生理和病理条件下脱落的基于脂质的膜结合小实体。他们通过以高度特异性的方式在细胞之间局部和远距离转移基于核酸和蛋白质的货物作为细胞间通讯器的发现引起了最近的兴奋。它们传输的信息及其组成可能会根据起源细胞以及引发的刺激而变化。囊泡特征的这种敏感变化为改善病理状况（包括感染和肿瘤病变）的微创诊断带来了重大希望。同样，这些细胞衍生的囊泡表现出有前景的特性，可以提高药物靶向效率。该领域的最新发展旨在研究 EVs 作为新型药物载体，因为它们的天然成分、生物功能和选择性细胞相互作用。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了基于细胞外囊泡的诊断和药物治疗的新研究途径。我们展示了如何收获和改造细胞来源的囊泡以满足特定应用的设计要求。最后，我们讨论了将基于细胞外囊泡的方法转化为（前）临床应用时遇到的潜在风险。