Open Access

ARTICLE

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosome: The likely game-changer in stem cell research

DICKSON KOFI WIREDU OCANSEY^1,2,*, XINWEI XU¹, LU ZHANG¹, FEI MAO^1,*

1 Key Laboratory of Medical Science and Laboratory Medicine of Jiangsu Province, School of Medicine, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
2 Directorate of University Health Services, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

* Address correspondence to: Fei Mao, ; Dickson Kofi Wiredu Ocansey,

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Secretome and Biomaterials: Regenerative Medicine Application)

BIOCELL 2022, 46(5), 1169-1172. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.018470

Received 26 July 2021; Accepted 26 September 2021; Issue published 06 January 2022

Abstract

Stem cell research is a promising area of transplantation and regenerative medicine with tremendous potential for improving the clinical treatment and diagnostic options across a variety of conditions and enhancing understanding of human development. Over the past few decades, mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) studies have exponentially increased with a promising outcome. However, regardless of the huge investment and the research attention given to stem cell research, FDA approval for clinical use is still lacking. Amid the challenges confronting stem cell research as a cell-based product, there appears to be evidence of superior effect and heightened potential success in its expressed vesicles, exosomes, as cell-free products. In addition to their highly desirable intrinsic biologically unique structural, compositional, and morphological characteristics, as well as predominant physiochemical stability and biocompatibility properties, exosomes can also be altered to enhance their therapeutic capability or diagnostic imaging potential via physical, chemical, and biological modification approaches. More importantly, the powerful therapeutic potential and superior biological functions of exosomes, particularly, regarding engineered exosomes as cell-free products, and their utilization in a new generation of nanomedicine treatment, vaccination, and diagnosis platforms, brings hope of a change in the near future. This viewpoint discusses the trend of stem cell research and why stem cell-derived exosomes could be the game-changer.

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Keywords

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