Plant derived exosomes: an emerging frontier in endogenous drug delivery carrier

Cell-based delivery systems are emerging drug delivery frontier exploring endogenous cellular components as carriers for proteins and molecules. Potential advantages proffered by this domain is its naturalness which enables ease in overcoming the various biological barriers in addition to conferring controlled drug release and active tissue targeting attributes. To-date, cell-based delivery systems reported in literature encompass of cellular organelles viz; Red Blood Corpuscles (RBCs), platelets, immune cells, stem cells, and tumor cells (1). In recent years, research involving exosomes is gaining momentum. Exosomes, owing to its nanosize and physiological activities, to name a few, antioxidant, anti-cancer property, anti- inflammatory action, regulation of gut microflora, prevention of pathogen attack and organ damage, have attracted attention from researchers. Historically, exosomes were considered as a cell debris with little or no biological significance (2). However, today exosomes have been recognized to play a pivotal role in array of cellular functions viz. cell communication, transport of molecules, priming of immune system by mediating the adaptive immune response towards pathogens and tumours (3).