Exosome based miRNA delivery strategy for disease treatment

miRNA, which is a common non-coding RNA, can target various mRNAs to regulate their physiological activities. Therefore, miRNAs play an important role in various physiological and pathological processes, and so they have been proposed as a powerful tool to treat different diseases efficiently. However, the characteristic of miRNA degradation in vivo limits its further clinical application. Exosomes have the advantage of crossing the biological barrier and achieving long-distance communication with cells, so they are excellent vectors for miRNAs. By studying the biogenesis of exosomes, the way for loading miRNAs, the mechanism of targeting, and disease occurrence and development, it is confirmed that exosomes can enrich specific endogenous miRNAs and regulate a variety of physiological activities, such as promoting cancer cell apoptosis, regulating lipid metabolism and promoting angiogenesis. It is shown that exosomes loaded with miRNAs have good performance in the fields of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease treatment, and regenerative medicine. In this paper, the application and research progress of exosomes carrying miRNA in the above fields are systematically described. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.