Engineered Exosomes versus Synthetic Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery

Abstract

Two developing, but promising, platforms to optimize therapeutic targeting, bioavailability and safety in drug delivery research are engineered exosomes and synthetic nanoparticles. The exosomes that are engineered out of naturally occurring extracellular vesicles have become further of interest because of their intrinsic biocompatibility, lack of immunogenicity and capacity to traverse biological barriers, such as the blood-brain barrier. Innovations in genetic and chemical engineering have also added to their targeting capabilities and cargo-carrying capacity, which makes them potentially successful vectors in the use of precision medicine. Synthetic nanoparticles, in contrast, have better structural tunability, scaling fabrication, and high drug encapsulation efficiency, but are related to increased immunogenicity and toxicity potentials.
New trends show a major advance in optimizing both systems in treatment of cancers/neurological as well as systemic disorders, and new hybrid strategies have tried to combine the advantages of both systems. Nonetheless, there are still issues with big-scale production, standardization, controlling biodistribution, and long-term safety. There is a piece of comparative evidence indicating that, although synthetic nanoparticles are currently leading in clinical translation because of manufacturing maturity, engineered exosomes perform better biologically in complex biological conditions.
In general, the two delivery systems are set to complete each other in the field of next generation nanomedicine especially with bioengineering, synthetic biology and nanofabrication finding new leaps in technological advancements.